Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 infection among U.S. Thalassemia patients

Thalassemia is an inherited genetic disorder requiring multiple transfusions to treat anemia caused by low hemoglobin levels. Thus, thalassemia patients are at risk for infection with blood-borne pathogens, including human T cell lymphotropic viruses (HTLV) that are transmitted by transfusion of cellular blood products. Here, we examined the prevalence of HTLV among 234 U.S. thalassemia patients using sera collected in 2008. Sera were tested for antibodies to HTLV-1/2 using enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and a confirmatory western blot (WB) that differentiates between HTLV-1 and HTLV-2. Demographic information and clinical information were collected at study enrollment, including HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) status. Three patients (1.3%) were WB positive; two were HTLV-1 and one could not be serotyped as HTLV-1/2. All three HTLV-positive persons were HIV-1 negative and one was HCV seropositive. The HTLV seroprevalence was higher than that of HIV-1 (0.85%) and lower than HCV (18.8%) in this populatio...