Citation

Viana GMC, Guimarães HD, Salem SM, Santos AVA, Zani JG (2019) Silent Transmission of HTLV-2 in an Endemic Area of Northeastern Brazil: Report of 10 Cases and Review Literature. Int J Virol AIDS 6:051. doi.org/10.23937/2469-567X/1510051

Copyright

© 2019 Viana GMC, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

CASE REPORT | OPEN ACCESS DOI: 10.23937/2469-567X/1510051

Silent Transmission of HTLV-2 in an Endemic Area of Northeastern Brazil: Report of 10 Cases and Review Literature

Graça Maria de Castro Viana1*, Helaine Dias Guimarães2, Saphyra Medeiros Salem2, Augusto Viana Arouche Santos3 and Jamilly Gonçalves Zani3

1Department of Pathology, Post-graduation Program in Adult Health, Federal University of Maranhão, Brazil

2Academics of Medicine, Federal University of Maranhão, Brazil

3Academics of Medicine, University Metropolitan Center of the Amazon, Brazil

Abstract

HTLV 2 is endemic among Amerindians and has been reported in intravenous drug abusers in the USA, Europe, and Asia. The most important indigenous communities in Brazil are distributed in the states of Amapá, Pará, Amazonas, Roraima, Rondônia and Maranhão. This study aims to determine the prevalence of HTLV-2 in the state of Maranhão. Ten patients attended at a referral hospital who presented confirmatory Western blot serology for HTLV-2 were analyzed. All seropositives were asymptomatic and using B-complex vitamins; they are not indigenous and deny use of drugs. An endemic transmission of HTLV 2 occurs in the state of Maranhão, although there is no significant population study, but it implies the need to specify the route of transmission of this virus in our region, which justifies the need for molecular studies with subtype typing involved for a better epidemiological understanding.