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Human T‐lymphotropic virus type I infection among blood donors in the Solomon Islands

Human T‐lymphotropic virus type I infection among blood donors in the Solomon Islands 2. Smith PJ, Miller TE, Fraser J, et al. An empirical evaluation of the performance of antibody identification tasks. Transfusion 1991;31:313-7. 3. Walker RH, ed. Technical manual. 10th ed. Arlington: American Association of Blood Banks, 1990. Editor's Note: Mr. Judd is entirely correct. While authors must terminology in submitted manuscripts, it is clearly attempt to use corr1~3 the responsibility of the Editors to make appropriate corrections when that does not occur. For the sentence in question, the necessary corrections obviously were not made. Because responsibility for the error in this case clearly lies with the Editors, this letter was not sent to the original authors for reply. As for the Editors, we can only apologize to readers for the lapse and promise to be more diligent in the future. Human T-lymphotropic virus type I infection among blood donors in the Solomon Islands To the Editor: We recently demonstrated an overall seroprevalence of human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) infection of 2.2 percent among hospitalized patients from widely separated regions in the Solomon Islands' and have identified a case of HTLV-I myeloneuropathy in a lifelong resident of Guadalcanal.2 In addition, we have isolated highly divergent molecular variants of HTLV-I from Melanesian Solomon Islanders.'.' These findings establish unequivocally that HTLV-I is endemic in Melanesia. We have now conducted a preliminary serologic survey to determine the prevalence of HTLV-I infection among healthy blood donors in the Solomon Islands. Sera were collected in 1988 from 435 healthy Melanesians (370 men and 65 women) who donated blood at the Central Hospital, a 250-bed facility that serves as the primary referral center in the Solomon Islands. Of the 175 donors whose ages were known, the range was 15 to 59 years; 157 donors were from 15 to 29 years old. The ages for the remaining 260 donors were not known to us. Hepatitis B virus surface antigen was found in 81 (18.6%) donors. All sera were stored at -20°C until shipment on dry ice to Bethesda, MD, where they remained frozen at - 70°C until testing. Sera were screened for IgG antibodies against HTLV-I by the indirect immunofluorescence antibody (IFA) technique, using SI-1 cells, a T-cell line persistently infected with an HTLV-I variant from a Solomon I ~ l a n d e r and an uninfected T-cell line (MOLT-3). Sera ,~ from 4 donors deemed positive by IFA and from 7 randomly selected IFA-negative individuals were tested by HTLV-I Western immunoblot (DuPont, Wilmington, DE), as described previously.' HTLV-I seropositivity was based on reactivity to HTLV-I gag-encoded proteins p19 and p24 and the external envelope glycoprotein gp46 andor transmembrane protein gp21. As determined by IFA and verified by strict Western immunoblot criteria, 3 blood donors (a 28-year-old woman and 2 young men) were seropositive for HTLV-I, for overall seroprevalence of 0 7 percent (3/435). One of the IFA-positive donors and 2 . of the 7 IFA-negative donors had indeterminate Western blots (reactive only to gag proteins), and the remaining 5 IFA-neg. ative donors had negative blots (no bands). The 0 7 percent prevalence of HTLV-I infection among blood donors in the Solomon Islands, as compared to the 2.2 percent incidence in hospital patients, probably reflects the younger age and better . health status of this group. Although the prevalence of 0 7 percent appears low, it is 30 times the approximately 0.02 percent prevalence found among blood donors in the United States.s Screening of whole blood donations for HTLV-I is not currently practiced in the Solomon Islands. Providing a blood supply devoid of all common transfusion-acquired viral pathogens is not always realistic for health ministries in the Third World, which are faced with already small, and now dwindling, budgets. Difficult choices must be made between detecting viruses that are prevalent and deadly (e.g., hepatitis B virus) and detecting those that are prevalent but not particularly virulent (e.g., HTLV-I). Although the number of donors tested was too small to calculate the risk of transfusion-acquired HTLV-I infection, any estimated risk would have to be lower than the risk of acquiring hepatitis B virus, because of the markedly higher prevalence of hepatitis B virus among blood donors. YANAGIHARA, MPH MD, RICHARD COLLEEN HEFNER,BA Laboratory of Central Nervous System Studies National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke National Institutes of Health Building 36, Room SB-21 Bethesda, MD 20892 ANDREW AJDUKIEWICZ,MD B. Ministry of Health and Medical Services Central Hospital Honiara, Solomon Islands http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Transfusion Wiley

Human T‐lymphotropic virus type I infection among blood donors in the Solomon Islands

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Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
1992 AABB
ISSN
0041-1132
eISSN
1537-2995
DOI
10.1046/j.1537-2995.1992.32192116444.x
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

2. Smith PJ, Miller TE, Fraser J, et al. An empirical evaluation of the performance of antibody identification tasks. Transfusion 1991;31:313-7. 3. Walker RH, ed. Technical manual. 10th ed. Arlington: American Association of Blood Banks, 1990. Editor's Note: Mr. Judd is entirely correct. While authors must terminology in submitted manuscripts, it is clearly attempt to use corr1~3 the responsibility of the Editors to make appropriate corrections when that does not occur. For the sentence in question, the necessary corrections obviously were not made. Because responsibility for the error in this case clearly lies with the Editors, this letter was not sent to the original authors for reply. As for the Editors, we can only apologize to readers for the lapse and promise to be more diligent in the future. Human T-lymphotropic virus type I infection among blood donors in the Solomon Islands To the Editor: We recently demonstrated an overall seroprevalence of human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) infection of 2.2 percent among hospitalized patients from widely separated regions in the Solomon Islands' and have identified a case of HTLV-I myeloneuropathy in a lifelong resident of Guadalcanal.2 In addition, we have isolated highly divergent molecular variants of HTLV-I from Melanesian Solomon Islanders.'.' These findings establish unequivocally that HTLV-I is endemic in Melanesia. We have now conducted a preliminary serologic survey to determine the prevalence of HTLV-I infection among healthy blood donors in the Solomon Islands. Sera were collected in 1988 from 435 healthy Melanesians (370 men and 65 women) who donated blood at the Central Hospital, a 250-bed facility that serves as the primary referral center in the Solomon Islands. Of the 175 donors whose ages were known, the range was 15 to 59 years; 157 donors were from 15 to 29 years old. The ages for the remaining 260 donors were not known to us. Hepatitis B virus surface antigen was found in 81 (18.6%) donors. All sera were stored at -20°C until shipment on dry ice to Bethesda, MD, where they remained frozen at - 70°C until testing. Sera were screened for IgG antibodies against HTLV-I by the indirect immunofluorescence antibody (IFA) technique, using SI-1 cells, a T-cell line persistently infected with an HTLV-I variant from a Solomon I ~ l a n d e r and an uninfected T-cell line (MOLT-3). Sera ,~ from 4 donors deemed positive by IFA and from 7 randomly selected IFA-negative individuals were tested by HTLV-I Western immunoblot (DuPont, Wilmington, DE), as described previously.' HTLV-I seropositivity was based on reactivity to HTLV-I gag-encoded proteins p19 and p24 and the external envelope glycoprotein gp46 andor transmembrane protein gp21. As determined by IFA and verified by strict Western immunoblot criteria, 3 blood donors (a 28-year-old woman and 2 young men) were seropositive for HTLV-I, for overall seroprevalence of 0 7 percent (3/435). One of the IFA-positive donors and 2 . of the 7 IFA-negative donors had indeterminate Western blots (reactive only to gag proteins), and the remaining 5 IFA-neg. ative donors had negative blots (no bands). The 0 7 percent prevalence of HTLV-I infection among blood donors in the Solomon Islands, as compared to the 2.2 percent incidence in hospital patients, probably reflects the younger age and better . health status of this group. Although the prevalence of 0 7 percent appears low, it is 30 times the approximately 0.02 percent prevalence found among blood donors in the United States.s Screening of whole blood donations for HTLV-I is not currently practiced in the Solomon Islands. Providing a blood supply devoid of all common transfusion-acquired viral pathogens is not always realistic for health ministries in the Third World, which are faced with already small, and now dwindling, budgets. Difficult choices must be made between detecting viruses that are prevalent and deadly (e.g., hepatitis B virus) and detecting those that are prevalent but not particularly virulent (e.g., HTLV-I). Although the number of donors tested was too small to calculate the risk of transfusion-acquired HTLV-I infection, any estimated risk would have to be lower than the risk of acquiring hepatitis B virus, because of the markedly higher prevalence of hepatitis B virus among blood donors. YANAGIHARA, MPH MD, RICHARD COLLEEN HEFNER,BA Laboratory of Central Nervous System Studies National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke National Institutes of Health Building 36, Room SB-21 Bethesda, MD 20892 ANDREW AJDUKIEWICZ,MD B. Ministry of Health and Medical Services Central Hospital Honiara, Solomon Islands

Journal

Transfusion – Wiley

Published: Jan 1, 1992

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