Prevalence and risk factors for HTLV-II infection in 913 injecting drug users in Stockholm, 1994

J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr Hum Retrovirol. 1997 Aug 15;15(5):381-6. doi: 10.1097/00042560-199708150-00009.

Abstract

The prevalence and risk factors for acquisition of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I and II (HTLV-I and II) were investigated in a prospective study of 913 injecting drug users (IDUs) in Stockholm in 1994. Epidemiologic data were recorded, and blood samples were tested for antibodies against HTLV-I and HTLV-II; human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) types 1 and 2; and hepatitis A (HAV), B (HBV), C (HCV), and D (HDV). Positive serologic results for HTLV were confirmed by Western blot (WB) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Of the 905 participants with conclusive HTLV-II status, 29 (3.2%) were HTLV-II positive, and all but three were of Nordic descent. None was HTLV-I infected. One person was infected as early as 1981, before HIV had reached the IDU population in Sweden. The prevalence of HTLV-II infection was 12% among HIV-1-seropositive and 1.8% among HIV-1-seronegative participants. The overall seroprevalences were 14% for HIV-1, 0% for HIV-2, 41% for HAV, 75% for HBV, 92% for HCV, and 8% for HDV. Although amphetamine has been the main injecting drug in Sweden for several decades, heroin abuse combined with a debut of injecting drugs before 1975 was identified as the most important risk factor associated with HTLV-II infection. HAV and HIV seropositivity were also independent risk factors.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Female
  • HIV Seropositivity / complications
  • HIV Seropositivity / epidemiology
  • HTLV-I Infections / epidemiology
  • HTLV-II Antibodies / blood
  • HTLV-II Infections / complications
  • HTLV-II Infections / epidemiology*
  • Hepatitis A / complications
  • Hepatitis A / epidemiology
  • Hepatitis, Viral, Human / complications
  • Hepatitis, Viral, Human / epidemiology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Prevalence
  • Prospective Studies
  • Risk Factors
  • Substance Abuse, Intravenous / complications*
  • Sweden / epidemiology

Substances

  • HTLV-II Antibodies