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  • Title: HTLV-I serostatus of mothers of patients with adult T-cell leukemia and HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis.
    Author: Bartholomew C, Jack N, Edwards J, Charles W, Corbin D, Cleghorn FR, Blattner WA.
    Journal: J Hum Virol; 1998; 1(4):302-5. PubMed ID: 10195256.
    Abstract:
    OBJECTIVES: It has been shown that > 90% of mothers of HTLV-I-infected children were themselves carriers of HTLV-I. This study was designed to determine the HTLV-I serostatus of mothers of patients with adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) and HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP), and to assess the association of age of exposure and disease outcome. STUDY DESIGN/METHODS: In a cross-sectional study of the HTLV-I serostatus of mothers of HTLV-I-seropositive patients with ATL and HAM/TSP, 36 living mothers of patients with ATL and 15 mothers of patients with TSP/HAM were traced and enrolled. RESULTS: Five of the 15 (33%) mothers of patients with HAM/TSP and 35 of the 36 (97.2%) mothers of patients with ATL were HTLV-I-seropositive. All patients were breast-fed and none received blood transfusions. CONCLUSION: This study confirms that infection with HTLV-I in early childhood can lead to ATL in later life, and that HAM/TSP can also result from early infection but more commonly results from infection acquired in adulthood. There are several reports of posttransfusion HAM/TSP, but ATL has not been reported following blood transfusion except in patients who were immunocompromised. Because the newborn infant is considered to be immunoincompetent, it seems that this is a necessary factor for the development of ATL after infection.
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