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Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 (HTLV-2) prevalence of blood donors in the state of Pará, Brazil

  • Clinical Microbiology - Research Paper
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Abstract

Introduction

The present study had the objective to describe the molecular prevalence and epidemiological aspects of the human T-lymphotropic virus 2 (HTLV-2) infection in the blood donor population of the Pará state.

Methods

The present study is a descriptive, retrospective, and cross-sectional review of epidemiological, serological, and molecular data on inapt blood donors in the State Center for Hematology and Hemotherapy from January 2015 to December 2021. The data were digitalized to create a database using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences program. The prevalence of HTLV-2 was calculated based on the total number of donations during the study period. Descriptive frequency was used to analyze the qualitative data.

Results

A total of 665,568 blood donations were made. Out of these, 1884 (0.2%) samples presented serological detection to HTLV and further were evaluated using molecular confirmatory tests. Out of these, 36 samples were positive for HTLV-2 using qPCR Taqman assay based on pol gene region (0.005%). The HTLV-2 was found to be more prevalent in women (63.9%); aged between 39 and 59 years (55.6%); residents of the metropolitan region of Belém (80.6%); with self-declared race as brown (80.6%); individuals who had completed high school (58.6%); and first-time donors (58.3%)

Conclusion

The present study identified the presence of HTLV-2 (1 HTLV-2 case/20,000 donations; 0.005%) in the specific population of blood donors in Pará state. These findings can contribute to the existing literature on the subject both for specific population groups under study and for understanding the prevalence of HTLV-2 in the general population.

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Funding

The authors would like to thank the UNIFAMAZ Extension Research Management Nucleus (NUPEX) for funding the research project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro Universitário Metropolitano da Amazônia (UNIFAMAZ), Rua de Óbidos 179, apto. 1001, Belém, PA, 66020-446, Brazil

    Lucas Pinheiro Correa, Fatyene da Costa Farias, Katarine Antonia dos Santos Barile, Maurício Koury Palmeira & Carlos Eduardo de Melo Amaral

  2. Fundação Centro de Hemoterapia e Hematologia do Pará (HEMOPA), Belém, Pará, Brazil

    Katarine Antonia dos Santos Barile, Maurício Koury Palmeira & Carlos Eduardo de Melo Amaral

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  1. Lucas Pinheiro Correa
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  2. Fatyene da Costa Farias
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Correspondence to Lucas Pinheiro Correa.

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Correa, L.P., da Costa Farias, F., dos Santos Barile, K.A. et al. Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 (HTLV-2) prevalence of blood donors in the state of Pará, Brazil. Braz J Microbiol 54, 1745–1750 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42770-023-01067-2

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