HTLV infection in persons with sexually transmitted diseases in Spain

Oskar Ayerdi; Rafael Benito; Diego Ortega; Antonio Aguilera; Natalia Montiel; Ilduara Pintos; Alberto Díaz de Santiago; Begoña Baza; Vicente Soriano; Carmen de Mendoza

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2023.1277793

HTLV infection in persons with sexually transmitted diseases in Spain

Front Immunol. 2023 Dec 7:14:1277793. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1277793. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Sexually transmitted Infections Clinic, Centro Sanitario Sandoval, Madrid, Spain.
² Microbiology Department, Hospital Clínico Universitario Lozano Blesa, Zaragoza, Spain.
³ Microbiology Department, Hospital Miguel Servet, Zaragoza, Spain.
⁴ Microbiology Department, University of Santiago, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
⁵ Microbiology Department, Hospital Universitario Puerta del Mar, Cádiz, Spain.
⁶ Internal Medicine Laboratory, Puerta de Hierro University Hospital and Research Foundation-IDIPHISA, Madrid, Spain.
⁷ Public Health Unit, UNIR Health Sciences School and Medical Center, Madrid, Spain.

Abstract

Background: HTLV-1 infection is a neglected disease, despite estimates of 10 million people infected worldwide and producing life-threatening illnesses in 10% of carriers. Sexual transmission is the main route of contagion. However, HTLV-1 is not listed among sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Methods: Serum from all consecutive individuals who had attended six STI clinics across Spain during the last 12 months were tested for HTLV antibodies using a commercial enzyme immunoassay (EIA). Reactive samples were confirmed by immunoblot.

Results: A total of 2,524 samples were examined. The majority (1,936; 76.7%) belonged to men, of whom 676 (34.9%) were men who have sex with men (MSM) receiving HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis. Although native Spaniards predominated (1,470; 58.2%), up to 593 (23.5%) came from Latin America and 139 (5.5%) were African. A total of 26 individuals were initially EIA reactive and immunoblot confirmed 5 as HTLV-1 and 7 as HTLV-2. All but one HTLV-1+ case came from Latin America. Three were men and two were women. Among Latin Americans, the HTLV-1 seroprevalence was 0.67%. In contrast, all seven HTLV-2+ were native Spaniards and former injection drug users, and all but one were HIV+.

Conclusion: The rate of HTLV infection among individuals with STIs in Spain is 0.5%, which is greater than in the general population. These results support the introduction of universal HTLV screening in persons who attend clinics for STIs.

Keywords: HIV; HTLV-1; sexually transmitted infections; syphilis; transmission.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Deltaretrovirus Infections* / epidemiology
Female
HIV Infections* / epidemiology
Homosexuality, Male
Human T-lymphotropic virus 1*
Humans
Male
Seroepidemiologic Studies
Sexual and Gender Minorities*
Sexually Transmitted Diseases* / epidemiology
Spain / epidemiology

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was funded in part by grant UNIR-itei 005/23, Fondos Feder-Instituto de Salud Carlos III (FIS-PI-21/1717) and Fundación Mutua Madrileña (AP-174112020).