Prevalence of Human T-Lymphotropic Virus Type 1 in Brain-Dead Organ Donors

This study aimed to assess the prevalence of human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) among brain-dead organ donors at Masih Daneshvari Hospital in Tehran, Iran.

By enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), 54 organ donors were screened for HTLV-1 virus in this descriptive cross-sectional study. Following that, Western blot confirmation was performed to confirm the HTLV-I infection.

Anti-HTLV-1 antibodies were detected in 2 (3.4%) cases out of 54 patients tested by ELISA. A western blot was performed in cases of positive results, but none of the subjects tested positive for HTLV-1 infection.

The results of the present study indicated rare cases of HTLV-I infection in brain-dead organ donors. However, it is recommended that organ donors be investigated for the prevalence of this virus.