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Epidemiological and clinical profile of HTLV-1 patients: a closer look at a reference center in Bahia, Brazil

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Abstract

The human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) affects over 5 million people worldwide and is endemic in Brazil. Though HTLV-1 is a notifiable disease, the last epidemiological report regarding HTLV-1 infection covered the period from 2012 to 2019. To understand the specific challenges and to develop the best strategies for controlling HTLV-1 infection, it is important to know the characteristics of each region providing care to people living with this virus. This descriptive cross-sectional study evaluated patients treated at the HTLV reference center in Vitória da Conquista, Bahia, Brazil, between July 2021 and August 2022. The data were obtained through the analysis of medical records and routine clinical consultations. A total of 67 patients were evaluated, with 79.1% being female, 79.1% identifying as black, indigenous, and people of color, 37.31% being married, 80.6% identifying as heterosexual, and 59.7% reporting inconsistent condom use. Additionally, 37.3% of the patients were diagnosed with HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP), a chronic disease with a considerable effect on the quality of life. Furthermore, 53.7% of the patients had incomplete/complete elementary education, and 52.2% had an income of up to one minimum wage. The data highlight the necessity for more specific public policies (such as health education strategies, aimed at reducing the number of new infections) targeting the described at-risk population.

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Acknowledgements

We express our gratitude to the Centro de Apoio e Atenção à Vida (CAAV) for their support in conducting this research, and we extend our appreciation to the patients for agreeing to participate by providing their data. Their contribution to the study is invaluable in the ongoing fight against HTLV-1 infection. The authors would like to thank Falcon Scientific Editing (https://falconediting.com) for proofreading the English language in this paper.

Funding

This work received financial support from the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia (FAPESB), N. APP0048/2023 and PROPCI—PROPG/UFBA 007/2022—JOVEMPESq. Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), N. 421342/2018-8 and PROPCI—PROPG/UFBA 007/2022—JOVEMPESq.

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Author notes

  1. Jéssica Oliveira de Souza Nascimento and Daniele Leite Alves have equal contribuitions.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Multidisciplinar em Saúde, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Rua Hormindo Barros, 58 - Block 17, Lot 58, Office 338 - Candeias, Vitória da Conquista, BA, CEP: 45.029-094, Brazil

    Jéssica Oliveira de Souza Nascimento, Daniele Leite Alves, Ana Flávia Novaes, Qesya Rodrigues Ferreira, Felipe de Oliveira Andrade, Roberta Muniz Luz Silva, Guilherme Barreto Campos, Davi Tanajura Costa & Fernanda Khouri Barreto

  2. Laboratório Central de Vitória da Conquista, Vitória da Conquista, BA, Brazil

    Daniele Leite Alves

  3. Centro de Apoio e Atenção à Vida, Vitória da Conquista, BA, Brazil

    Saadia Oliveira Ribeiro & Riviane Santana Souza

  4. Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública, Salvador, BA, Brazil

    Luciane Amorim Santos, Thessika Hialla Almeida Araújo & Filipe Ferreira de Almeida Rego

Authors
  1. Jéssica Oliveira de Souza Nascimento
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fernanda Khouri Barreto.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Ethics committee for research

Study approved by the Ethics Committee for Research with Human Subjects of the Instituto Multidisciplinar em Saúde of the Universidade Federal da Bahia (CEP/IMS/UFBA): N°. 5,064,102.

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Nascimento, J., Alves, D.L., Novaes, A.F. et al. Epidemiological and clinical profile of HTLV-1 patients: a closer look at a reference center in Bahia, Brazil. VirusDis. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13337-024-00862-1

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