First Report of the Prevalence of Human T-Lymphotropic Virus Type 1 (HTLV-1) for Hemodialysis Patients in Tehran

Human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) virus belongs to retroviruses and is involved in the etiology of adult T-lymphocytic leukemia (ATL) and tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP). This virus could be transmitted through transfusion of contaminated blood or blood products, from the mother to the child or fetus, sexual intercourse, and sharing contaminated syringe needles among addicted individuals. There is no report regarding the prevalance of HTLV-1 among hemodialysis patietns in Tehran.
In this descriptive study, 150 patients, who were under hemodialysis from four military hospitals of Tehran were included. Serum samples were screened to measure the titer of HTLV-1 antibodies by Dia-Pro ELISA kits. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) positive samples were checked by the western blot method.
The results indicated that age of the patients was in the range of 24 to 88 years old and the mean age of patients was 63.58 ± 13.41 years. Among all patients, only one patient (0.66%) had positive anti HTLV-1 ELISA test in the serum while other patients (99.4%) had negative results. The positive sample was confirmed by Western blot analysis.
The prevalence rate of HTLV-1 among hemodialysis patients was not high in Tehran. However, it is necessary to take preventive measures to reduce its spread, especially through infectious hemodialysis machines.