Among HTLV-1-positive patients without prior tuberculosis, 64.3% (9 of 14) presented with bronchiectasis and 35.7% (5 of 14) with pulmonary fibrosis.
Observational (n=14)
HTLV-1 infection may be associated with structural lung damage such as bronchiectasis and pulmonary fibrosis even in the absence of prior tuberculosis, though pulmonary function often remains normal.
The lifelong infection with the human T lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) has been associated with a variety of clinical manifestations; one of the less-explored is HTLV-1-associated pulmonary disease. Imaging of lung damage caused by the HTLV-1 hyperinflammatory cascade can be similar to sequelae from TB infection. Our study aims to describe the pulmonary lesions of HTLV-1-positive patients without past or current active TB and evaluate pulmonary function. We found that nine out of fourteen patients with no known TB disease history presented bronchiectasis, mainly found bilaterally while five presented pulmonary fibrosis. A normal pattern was found in most patients with a pulmonary functional test. Furthermore, there was no association between the PVL and the chest-CT scan findings, nor with spirometry results. However, the sample size was insufficient to conclude it.
Cachay et al. (Wed,) conducted a observational in HTLV-1 infection (n=14). HTLV-1 infection was evaluated on bronchiectasis. Among HTLV-1-positive patients without prior tuberculosis, 64.3% (9 of 14) presented with bronchiectasis and 35.7% (5 of 14) with pulmonary fibrosis.