Silent dissemination of HTLV-1 in an endemic area of Argentina. Epidemiological and molecular evidence of intrafamilial transmission.

Background: Molecular and epidemiological studies of transmission routes and risk factors for infection by HTLV-1 are extremely important in order to implement control measures, especially because of the high prevalence of HTLV-1 in several regions of the world. San Salvador de Jujuy, Northwest Argentina, is a highly endemic area for HTLV-1 and foci of tropical spastic paraparesis/HTLV-1-associated myelopathy.

Objective: To gain further insight into the role of intrafamilial transmission of HTLV-1 in a highly endemic region in Argentina.

Correlation of HTLV-1 Tax genetic diversity with HTLV-1 associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis progression and HTLV-1a genotypes in an HTLV-1 endemic region in Argentina.

The oncoprotein Tax was characterized genetically from a large cohort of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) seropositive individuals from the most endemic region of HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) and HTLV-1 infection in Argentina, the province of San Salvador de Jujuy. Sixteen HAM/TSP patients and 47 HTLV-1 healthy carriers were evaluated. Six Tax genetic polymorphisms were identified and observed in 70.

HTLV type 1 genetic types among native descendants in Argentina.

The province of San Salvador de Jujuy, located in the northwest of Argentina, is a highly endemic area for HTLV-1 infection and a foci of tropical spastic paraparesis/HTLV-1-associated myelopathy (HAM/TSP). Therefore, to better understand this, we carried out a genetic characterization of a large set of HTLV-1 strains (n = 65) of descendants of Amerindians from this region. The LTR and env regions were analyzed.

Retrospective study of the prevalence of human T-cell lymphotropic virus-type 1/2, HIV, and HBV in pregnant women in Argentina.

This study shows first data on HTLV-1/2 seroprevalence among pregnant women in the non-endemic region of Argentina. In a retrospective study a representative sample (n = 3,143) of the pregnant women registered in the health public service in the province of Córdoba was evaluated. HTLV-1/2 seroprevalence was 0.

HTLV-1a tax gene and long terminal repeat sequences from Argentinean strains reveal disagreement with tax restriction fragment length polymorphism subtyping.

Sequence and cluster analysis have shown two HTLV-1a tax gene subgroups, tax A and tax B, which are related to long terminal repeat (LTR) molecular subtypes. On the basis of subgroup-specific nucleotide substitutions, restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the tax gene for subtyping HTLV-1a isolates was proposed. In this study we genetically characterized the tax gene from 63 HTLV-1-positive Argentinean individuals, including 14 patients with HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis and 49 healthy HTLV-1 carriers.