Molecular detection of human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 infection among oncology patients in Germany: A retrospective view.
PLoS One
; 14(5): e0217560, 2019.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31136642
ABSTRACT
Human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) belongs to a larger group of primate T-cell lymphotropic viruses (PTLVs) within the family Retroviridae. It is estimated that 10 to 20 million people worldwide may be infected with HTLV-1. Although most of them are asymptomatic, around 5% of infected individuals may develop either HTLV-1 Associated Myelopathy/Tropical Spastic Paraparesis (HAM/TSP) or Adult T-cell Leukaemia/Lymphoma (ATLL). Public Health authorities in many countries have implemented routine blood-donor tests for HTLV-specific antibodies; but this is not the case for Germany since the reported prevalence is very low (7/100,000). With the aim to evaluate retrospectively the presence of HTLV-1 among oncology patients in this country, samples stored at the Universitätsklinikum Freiburg, were analyzed. For this purpose, two different nested-PCR (n-PCR) protocols have been modified and set up for HTLV-1 detection. One positive case was detected by n-PCR among 406 samples (0,25%) in a period of 5 years (2008-2012) corresponding to a T-Cell Lymphoma. Despite the low prevalence, this virus is circulating in Germany, probably due to the increasing numbers of immigrants in these last years. Physicians should consider HTLV-1 infection and suspect it taking in account the ethnic and relation to endemic regions regardless the patient's residence.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Blood Donors
/
Human T-lymphotropic virus 1
/
Leukemia-Lymphoma, Adult T-Cell
/
Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic
/
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
PLoS One
Journal subject:
CIENCIA
/
MEDICINA
Year:
2019
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Germany
Publication country:
EEUU
/
ESTADOS UNIDOS
/
ESTADOS UNIDOS DA AMERICA
/
EUA
/
UNITED STATES
/
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
/
US
/
USA