Prevalence of Antibodies to Human Immunodeficiency Virus and to Human T Cell Leukemia Virus Type I in Transfused Sickle Cell Disease Patients

• Published in: The Journal of infectious diseases 1990-09, Vol.162 (3), p.743-745
• Main Authors: Castro, Oswaldo, Saxinger, Carl, Barnes, Sandra, Alexander, Steve, Flagg, Regina, Frederick, Winston
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; AIDS; AIDS/HIV; Anemia, Sickle Cell - complications; Anemia, Sickle Cell - therapy; Antibodies; Biological and medical sciences; Blood Transfusion; Concise Communications; Erythrocytes; Female; HIV; HIV infections; HIV Seropositivity; HTLV-I Antibodies - blood; HTLV-I Infections - etiology; Human T lymphotropic virus 1; Humans; Infectious diseases; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Prospective Studies; Sickle cell disease; Sickles; T cell leukemia; Viral diseases; Viruses
• ISSN: 0022-1899; 1537-6613
• DOI: 10.1093/infdis/162.3.743

The prevalence ofthe human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibody and the human T cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) antibody was examined in 116 adults with sickle cell disease . Eighty-eight ofthem had received a mean of 186 transfusions of red blood cells between 1978 and 1985, and none was positive for the HIV antibody. Of 116 patients, 9 (7.896) tested positive for HTLV-I antibodies. HTLV-I-positive patients were similar to those without HTLV-I antibody with respect to age, number of transfusions, and proportion of patients with > 40 transfusions. However, 3 of the 9 HTLV-I-positive patients came from West Africa or from the Caribbean, whereas this proportion was much lower (7/107) in the HTLV-I-negative group (X2, 7.564; P < .01). Our analysis suggests that the risk ofHIV infection in transfused sickle cell disease patients is low. Although HTLV-I antibodies in these patients may not be related to blood transfusions, it seems prudent to screen blood donors for HTLV-I infection.