Author/Authors :
Tafreshian، Amir Reza نويسنده Infammation and Infammatory Diseases Research Center, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad , , Ghafari، Javad نويسنده , , Kowsarian ، Mehrnoush نويسنده Department of Pediatrics, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari , , Vaez Mahdavi، Mohammad Reza نويسنده , , Vahid Shahi، Koroush نويسنده Department of Pediatrics, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari , , Rafatpanah، Houshang نويسنده ,
Abstract :
Human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) is one of the health threaten-
ing problems in endemic areas and can be transmitted by diferent routes such as blood
transfusion. In order to correct chronic anemia in thalassemia subjects, they may need
to get blood units per month. Thus, they are at risk of infection with blood-borne viruses
such as HTLV-I.
Objectives: In the present study, we investigated the prevalence of HTLV-I infection
among high risk patients with thalassemia in north of Iran, Mazandaran.
Patients and Methods: A total number of 288 thalassemia patients including 151 females
(52.4%) and 137 males (47.6%) with mean age of 21.45 ± 6.6 years were tested for HTLV-I Ig
G and Ig M antibodies against gag proteins by enzyme linked immuniosorbent assay
(ELISA). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test was applied to confrm HTLV-I infection in
DNA samples of antibody positive subjects.
Results: In the primary screening by ELISA, 20 out of 288 (6.9%) patients were positive
for HTLV-I antibody. The PCR results confrmed that four out of 20 samples (1.4%) were
HTLV-I positive.
Conclusions: The seroprevalence of HTLV-I infection in patients with thalassemia in
Mazandaran province compared to other parts of Iran was not too high; however, HTLV-I
screening should be performed prior to blood transfusions to decline the risk of virus
transmission in these patients.
