2026-04-27T07:08:09Zhttps://uvadoc.uva.es/oai/request

oai:uvadoc.uva.es:10324/457002021-06-24T07:26:24Zcom_10324_41462com_10324_954com_10324_894col_10324_41463

00925njm 22002777a 4500 dc Machuca, Ana author Tuset, Concepción author Soriano, Vincent author Caballero, Estrella author Aguilera, Antonio author Ortiz de Lejarazu Leonardo, Raúl author 2000 Objective: To estimate the prevalence of HTLV infection among pregnant women in Spain. Methods: A commercial ELISA incorporating HTLV-I and HTLV-II antigens was used for HTLV antibody screening. Repeatedly reactive samples were further examined by western blot. Moreover, confirmation with PCR was performed when cells were available. Results: 20 366 pregnant women in 12 different Spanish cities were tested in a 3 year period (July 1996 to August 1999). 32 samples were repeatedly reactive by ELISA, and 10 of them were confirmed as positive by western blot (eight for HTLV-II and two for HTLV-I). In addition, three of 13 women who had an indeterminate western blot pattern yielded positive results for HTLV-II by PCR. All 11 HTLV-II infected women had been born in Spain, and all but one were former drug users. Seven of them were coinfected with HIV-1. One HTLV-I infected woman was from Peru, where HTLV is endemic and where she most probably was infected during sexual intercourse. Conclusion: The overall prevalence of HTLV infection among pregnant women in Spain is 0.064% (13/20 366), and HTLV-II instead of HTLV-I is the most commonly found variant. A strong relation was found among HTLV-II infection and specific epidemiological features, such as Spanish nationality and injecting drug use. Although HTLV-II can be vertically transmitted, mainly through breast feeding, both the low prevalence of infection and its lack of pathogenicity would not support the introduction of HTLV antenatal screening in Spain Sexually Transmitted Infections,2000, vol. 76 n. 5, p. 366-370 1368-4973 http://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/45700 10.1136/sti.76.5.366 366 5 370 Sexually Transmitted Infections 76 Prevalence of HTLV infection in pregnant women in Spain