HTLV Testing in Primary Care
This could be offered to a patient:
1. With a perceived risk of exposure/patient request
2. With a known risk of exposure (contact)
3. From a high risk ethnicity group (see below)
4. With HIV Infection
5. In pregnancy
6. If they had symptoms of myelopathy
7. If they had a T-cell malignancy
Patient Information
Patient Information Leaflets are available here.
Sample collection
Please collect blood for serology, requesting ‘HTLV 1 and 2 Antibody Screen ’.
Reactive Screening Test
Refer to the National Centre for Human Retrovirology (NCHR) in the Clinical Trials Unit.
Countries with high prevalence HTLV infection
An area of ‘high prevalence’ is defined as a prevalence over 1% in the general population or prevalence of over 1/10 000 among first-time blood donors.1 These countries are listed below. In many parts of the world, there is inaccurate data on prevalence, so this list is likely to be incomplete.
Europe
Romania
Caribbean Islands
Africa
South America
Asia
Iran
Japan
Taiwan
North America
Louisiana
Missisippi
Nevada
North Dakota
Texas
Wyoming
Indigenous Populations of USA/Australia
1European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Geographical distribution of areas with a high prevalence of HTLV-1 infection. Stockholm: ECDC; 2015
The National Centre for Human Retrovirology Clinic Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Ground Floor, Winston Churchill Wing, St Mary's Hospital, Praed Street, London W2 1NY