Description of a "Trans-Saharan" strain of human T-Lymphotropic virus type 1 in West Africa

作者：Zehender Gianguglielmo^*; Ebranati Erika; De Maddalena Chiara; Gianelli Erika; Riva Agostino; Rusconi Stefano; Massetto Benedetta; Rankin Fanny; Curie Manuel A; Galli Massimo

来源：JAIDS: Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes , 2008, 47(3): 269-273.

• Guinea Bissau
• human T-lymphotropic virus type 1
• molecular epidemiology
• northern and western Africa
• phylogenetic analysis

The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and the molecular epidemiology of human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-1) in a group of pregnant women living in Guinea Bissau. We studied 427 consecutive pregnant women attending 10 centers for HIV-1 infection monitoring in Bissau. HTLV-1 infection was found in 2.6% of the patients. Phylogenetic analysis of the long terminal repeat region showed that 10 isolates were of the cosmopolitan subtype (HTLV-1a) and that only I was of the widespread Central African subtype (HTLV-1b). All the cosmopolitan isolates belonged to the HTLV-1aD subgroup, which was first described in North Africa and clustered with other Senegal and Guinea isolates to form a significant West African clade. Our data show a high prevalence of HTLV-1 in Guinea Bissau and suggest the existence of a trans-Saharan strain distributed in North and West Africa, which probably crossed the desert in the past as a result of contacts between nomadic and sedentary populations or along trading routes.

• 出版日期2008-3-1