HTLV-I/II as a common etiology of myelopathies in Bahia, Brazil
Braz. j. med. biol. res
; 29(6): 757-61, jun. 1996. tab
Article
em En
| LILACS
| ID: lil-181409
Biblioteca responsável:
BR1.1
RESUMO
Infection by human T-cell lymphotrophic virus type I (HTLV-I) is associated with a myelopathy known as tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP). The prevalence of HTLV-I infection was found to be high in a pilot study in Bahia, Brazil. In the present study, among patients with myleopathy of unclear etiology, 27 per cent (17/62) were immunoblot reactive to HTLV-I/II (serum and CSF), but none of 40 consecutive patients seen at the neurological clinic and having a well-established neurological diagnosis had detectable antibodies against those viruses (discrimination between HTLV-I and HTLV-II was not possible with the tests we used). The clinical syndrome of typical TSP with upper limb hyperreflexia was found to be a significant feature among the HTLV-I/II-seropositive patients compared to seronegative individuals. The 17 HTLV-I/II-reactive individuals had negative tests for syphilis, toxoplasmosis and schistosomiasis. TSP was also associated with female gender (P=0.001). We conclude that TSP is strongly associated with HTLV-I/II infection in women in Bahia.
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Base de dados:
LILACS
Assunto principal:
Doenças da Medula Espinal
/
Infecções por HTLV-I
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Infecções por HTLV-II
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Paraparesia Espástica Tropical
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
1996
Tipo de documento:
Article
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Project document