Assessment of the Prevalence of Human T-Lymphotropic Virus type 1 among Thalassemic Patients with Frequent Blood Transfusion in Tehran in 2003

Human T-Lymphotropic Virus type 1(HTLV-1) is a human retrovirus which has been known to cause Adult T-Cell Leukemia/Lymphoma(ATLL), HTLV-1 Associated Myelopathy/Tropical Spastic Paraparesis(HAM/TSP) and some other inflammatory disorders. One of the important pathways of transmission of this infection is transfusion of blood and its products. This study was designed to find seroepidemiologic prevalence of HTLV-1 infection in thalassemic patients with frequent blood transfusion and compare it between male and female population in Tehran province. This cross-sectional epidemiologic study was performed on 175 cases including 101 males and 74 females. Serum samples were screened for Anti HTLV by using ELISA method. The positive samples of screening test were serotyped and confirmed by Western Blot analysis. Results were analyzed by using subjective statistical parameters and compared between males and females by Chi Square test. Prevalence of Anti HTLV-1 was 6.3% in our studied patients, including 6.9% in males and 5.4% in females. This study revealed no significant statistical difference in Anti HTLV-1 prevalence between males and females but showed that prevalence of HTLV-1 infection correlated with increasing age and numbers of received blood units. Also by using ROC curves, the age 21 was defined as an indicator for increasing risk of HTLV-1 infection in our study. With respect to the high prevalence of Anti HTLV-1 in the studied population, it can be expected that prevalence of HTLV-1 infection in blood donor population in Tehran would be considerable.