TY - JOUR
T1 - Very high prevalence of infection with the human T cell leukaemia virus type 1c in remote Australian Aboriginal communities
T2 - Results of a large cross-sectional community survey
AU - Einsiedel, Lloyd
AU - Pham, Hai
AU - Talukder, Mohammad Radwanur
AU - Taylor, Kerry
AU - Wilson, Kim
AU - Kaldor, John
AU - Gessain, Antoine
AU - Woodman, Richard
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (project grant 1088517)(awarded to LE, KW, KT, and AG). The funder had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or manuscript preparation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Einsiedel et al.
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - Infection with the human T cell leukaemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) subtype C is endemic among Aboriginal people in central Australia. To provide insights into the risk factors for transmission, we conducted the first large-scale, community-based prevalence study in seven remote Aboriginal communities. Residents >2 years old were invited to participate in the study between August 2014 and June 2018. HTLV-1 infection was defined as a positive western blot (WB) test or a positive HTLV-1 PCR. 720 community residents participated in the study (children <15 years, 142; adults, 578). Prevalences for children and adults were 3.5% (5/142) and 36.8% (213/578), respectively, reaching 49.3% (106/215) for those older than 45 years. A wide range of proviral loads were measured for both asymptomatic and symptomatic participants with no difference within groups according to age or gender; however, median PVL was 1.34 log10 higher for symptomatic participants. The adult prevalence of HTLV-1 infection in central Australia is the highest reported worldwide. Sexual contact is likely to be the predominant mode of transmission.
AB - Infection with the human T cell leukaemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) subtype C is endemic among Aboriginal people in central Australia. To provide insights into the risk factors for transmission, we conducted the first large-scale, community-based prevalence study in seven remote Aboriginal communities. Residents >2 years old were invited to participate in the study between August 2014 and June 2018. HTLV-1 infection was defined as a positive western blot (WB) test or a positive HTLV-1 PCR. 720 community residents participated in the study (children <15 years, 142; adults, 578). Prevalences for children and adults were 3.5% (5/142) and 36.8% (213/578), respectively, reaching 49.3% (106/215) for those older than 45 years. A wide range of proviral loads were measured for both asymptomatic and symptomatic participants with no difference within groups according to age or gender; however, median PVL was 1.34 log10 higher for symptomatic participants. The adult prevalence of HTLV-1 infection in central Australia is the highest reported worldwide. Sexual contact is likely to be the predominant mode of transmission.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85122177302&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009915
DO - 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009915
M3 - Article
C2 - 34879069
AN - SCOPUS:85122177302
VL - 15
SP - 1
EP - 14
JO - PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
JF - PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
SN - 1935-2727
IS - 12
M1 - e0009915
ER -