Respiratory and Urinary Tract Infections, Arthritis, and Asthma Associated with HTLV-I and HTLV-II Infection

Edward L. Murphy, Baoguang Wang, Ronald A. Sacher, Joy Fridey, James W. Smith, Catharie C. Nass, Bruce Newman, Helen E. Ownby, George Garratty, Sheila T. Hutching, George B. Schreiber

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Human T-lymphotropic virus types I and II (HTLV-I and -II) cause myelopathy; HTLV-I, but not HTLV-II, causes adult T-cell leukemia. Whether HTLV-II is associated with other diseases is unknown. Using survival analysis, we studied medical history data from a prospective cohort of HTLV-I- and HTLV-II-infected and -uninfected blood donors, all HIV seronegative. A total of 152 HTLV-I, 387 HTLV-II, and 799 uninfected donors were enrolled and followed for a median of 4.4, 4.3, and 4.4 years, respectively. HTLV-II participants had significantly increased incidences of acute bronchitis (incidence ratio [IR] = 1.68), bladder or kidney infection (IR = 1.55), arthritis (IR = 2.66), and asthma (IR = 3.28), and a borderline increase in pneumonia (IR = 1.82, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.98 to 3.38). HTLV-I participants had significantly increased incidences of bladder or kidney infection (IR = 1.82), and arthritis (IR = 2.84). We conclude that HTLV-II infection may inhibit immunologic responses to respiratory infections and that both HTLV-I and -II may induce inflammatory or autoimmune reactions.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)109-116
Number of pages8
JournalEmerging Infectious Diseases
Volume10
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2004

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Epidemiology
  • Microbiology (medical)
  • Infectious Diseases

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