A Cohort Study of Health Effects of HTLV-I Infection in Jamaican Children and their Associations with Viral, Immunologic and Host Genetic Markers
Abstract
Human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) infection is associated with infective dermatitis of childhood. Early childhood infection is also thought to play a role in development of a rare malignancy associated with HTLV-I, adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL). ATL develops in <5.0% of persons infected with HTLV-I in childhood. Identifying markers associated with increased risk of ATL among infected persons could be used to target persons for early clinical intervention. Several case reports have documented ATL patients with childhood histories of infective dermatitis. Infective dermatitis may be a cutaneous marker of risk for ATL. There may be additional health effects of HTLV-I infection in children that could be potential markers of risk for development of ATL, however this age group has not been well studied. A cohort study of 28 HTLV-I infected and 280 uninfected children born to women who attended one of two antenatal clinics in Kingston, Jamaica between January 1989 and August 1990 were enrolled in this study. Children received physical examinations and phlebotomy at clinic visits scheduled from six weeks to ten years of age. The primary analysis compared incidence rates for targeted health outcomes between HTLV-I infected and uninfected children. Based on the results of the primary analysis, the secondary analysis examined associations of HTLV-I-associated health outcomes with pre-diagnostic levels of viral and immunologic markers, as well as host genetic markers among HTLV-I infected children. Additionally, levels of immunologic markers at the time of diagnosis were described in infected children with a specific health outcome. HTLV-I infected children had significantly increased incidence rates of seborrheic dermatitis, eczema and hyperreflexia of the lower limbs compared to HTLV-I uninfected children. Additionally, compared to uninfected childrethe time of diagnosis, infected children with seborrheic dermatiti
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA421116
Entities
People
- Maloney Elizabeth Margaret
Organizations
- Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences