PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases (Nov 2013)

High prevalence of skin disorders among HTLV-1 infected individuals independent of clinical status.

  • Renata Okajima,
  • Augusto C P Oliveira,
  • Jerusa Smid,
  • Jorge Casseb,
  • Jose Antonio Sanches

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002546
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 11
p. e2546

Abstract

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BackgroundHuman T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) infection can increase the risk of developing skin disorders. This study evaluated the correlation between HTLV-1 proviral load and CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells count among HTLV-1 infected individuals, with or without skin disorders (SD) associated with HTLV-1 infection [SD-HTLV-1: xerosis/ichthyosis, seborrheic dermatitis or infective dermatitis associated to HTLV-1 (IDH)].MethodsA total of 193 HTLV-1-infected subjects underwent an interview, dermatological examination, initial HTLV-1 proviral load assay, CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells count, and lymphproliferation assay (LPA).ResultsA total of 147 patients had an abnormal skin condition; 116 (79%) of them also had SD-HTLV-1 and 21% had other dermatological diagnoses. The most prevalent SD-HTLV-1 was xerosis/acquired ichthyosis (48%), followed by seborrheic dermatitis (28%). Patients with SD-HTLV-1 were older (51 vs. 47 years), had a higher prevalence of myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) (75%), and had an increased first HTLV-1 proviral load and basal LPA compared with patients without SD-HTLV-1. When excluding HAM/TSP patients, the first HTLV-1 proviral load of SD-HTLV-1 individuals remains higher than no SD-HTLV-1 patients.ConclusionsThere was a high prevalence of skin disorders (76%) among HTLV-1-infected individuals, regardless of clinical status, and 60% of these diseases are considered skin disease associated with HTLV-1 infection.