Molecular epidemiology of HTLV-2 infection among intravenous drug users in Spain

HTLV-2 infection is prevalent among intravenous drug users (IDUs), which often are coinfected with HIV-1. Two main subtypes, HTLV-2a and -2b, have been described among European IDUs, with a characteristically geographic distribution: IIa in northern Europe and IIb in the south. Although frequent tra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of clinical virology 2005-05, Vol.33 (1), p.65-70
Main Authors: Toro, Carlos, Rodés, Berta, Bassani, Sylvina, Jiménez, Victoria, Tuset, Concepción, Brugal, María Teresa, Fuente, Luis de la, Soriano, Vincent
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Epidemiology
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
HTLV-2
HTLV-II Infections - epidemiology
Human immunodeficiency virus 1
Human T-lymphotropic virus
Human T-lymphotropic virus 2
Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 - classification
Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 - genetics
Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 - isolation & purification
Human viral diseases
Humans
IDUs
Infectious diseases
Male
Medical sciences
Microbiology
Middle Aged
Miscellaneous
Molecular Epidemiology
Molecular Sequence Data
Phylogeny
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Spain - epidemiology
Substance Abuse, Intravenous - complications
Viral diseases
Virology
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Summary:HTLV-2 infection is prevalent among intravenous drug users (IDUs), which often are coinfected with HIV-1. Two main subtypes, HTLV-2a and -2b, have been described among European IDUs, with a characteristically geographic distribution: IIa in northern Europe and IIb in the south. Although frequent traveling within Europe might have favoured a wide dissemination of diverse HTLV-2 variants, HTLV-2b was so far the only subtype reported in Spain. To investigate the current molecular epidemiology of HTLV-2 in Spain. Twenty-six new HTLV-2 strains isolated from IDUs over the last 11 years in different geographic regions were examined. The HTLV LTR region (620 bp) was sequenced and phylogenetic analyses were performed. Endonuclease restriction sites were examined to further characterize the HTLV-2 subgroup. All 26 individuals infected with HTLV-2 showed viruses belonging to the HTLV-2 b4 clade and were closely related to the previously reported HTLV-2 Spanish and Italian IDU isolates. HTLV-2 subtype b4 continues to be the only HTLV-2 subgroup recognized so far in Spain and no introduction of other HTLV-2 variants has occurred over the last 11 years.
ISSN:1386-6532
1873-5967
DOI:10.1016/j.jcv.2004.10.004