Prevalence of htlv-1 in blood donors in golestan province

Hossein Mehrabi habibabadi,1,* Zohreh sharifi,2 Masoud parsania,3 Ali akbar pourfathollah,4 Setareh haghighat,5

1. Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology, Tehran Medical sciences , Islamic Azad University ,Tehran,Iran
2. Blood Transfusion Research Center, High Institute for Research and Education in Transfusion Medicine, Tehran, Iran
3. Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran Medical sciences , Islamic Azad university ,Tehran,Iran
4. Blood Transfusion Research Center, High Institute for Research and Education in Transfusion Medicine, Tehran, Iran and Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
5. Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology, Tehran Medical sciences , Islamic Azad university ,Tehran,Iran

Abstract


Introduction

Human t-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (htlv-1) is a complex leukemogenic retrovirus with a single stranded positive sense rna genome that expresses unique proteins with oncogenic potential. approximately 5 to 10 million people are infected with htlv-1 worldwide. htlv-1 infection is observed throughout all parts of the world; however, southwestern japan, caribbean basin, south america, and central africa have been identified as being endemic regions for the virus. in addition to these regions, the virus is known to be endemic in northeast iran especially in the cities of mashhad and neyshabour . htlv-1 is the etiological agent for adult t-cell leukemia (atl) and htlv-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (ham/tsp) . despite this, more than 95% of infected individuals remain as asymptomatic carriers for the duration of their lives. the infection can be transmitted through the transfusion of contaminated blood or blood products, unprotected sexual contact, sharing of contaminated syringes and other instruments, or via transmission from mother to child. receiving red blood cells, platelet, and whole blood compared to plasma products is also thought to be associated with a higher risk of transmission. this study was conducted to identify prevalence of htlv-1 infection among donors who referred to blood transfusion centers in golestan province.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted among 890 blood volunteers who had been referred to blood transfusion centers of golestan province, iran between january 2018 and february 2018. automation elisa method (diapro htlv i-ii ab kit, italy) was used as a primary detection tool of htlv-1 antibodies and reactive samples rechecked via the same kit. for confirmation of reactive results, western blot was done on samples. all blood donors were routinely visited by the physician of the blood transfusion center before donation and also, were checked for the presence of the possibility of blood-borne infections such as hbv, hcv, hiv and treponema pallidum.

Results

A total of 890 blood donations were studied, about 843(94.7%) persons were male and the remaining47 (5.3%) were female that the male to female ratio was 19:1 .also, and the average age was 22-45 years. just one blood volunteers sample was htlv -1positive in this population and the total prevalence of this virus was found to be 0.11%.

Conclusion

There is no defined treatment for patients infected with htlv-i, but the accurate knowledge of seroprevalence rates in different population groups may be helpful in establishing prophylactic measures to reduce rates of viral transmission from infected individuals. this infection is endemic in certain parts of the world as well as in a northern provinces of iran. findings showed that the prevalence of htlv-1 infection among donors who referred to blood centers in golestan province was 0.11%. it is recommended to perform research on more samples.

Keywords

Htlv-1, blood donation, golestan province