evaluation of htlv-1 in human subgingival plaque of seropositive patients

objective: the aim of this study was to investigate the existence of human t-lymphotropic virus type 1 (htlv-1) in subgingival plaque of htlv-1 seropositive pa-tients. materials and methods: a total of 18 patients including 13 females and fivemales, with a mean age of 37 years participated in this descriptive study. half of them were htlv-1 carriers and the others were in htlv-1 associated myelopathy tropical spastic paraparesia (ham/tsp) stage.subgingival dental plaque samples were taken using sterile paper points and examined to detect htlv-1 using polymerase chain reaction (pcr). results: none of the carrier stage patients revealed htlv-1 virus, while only one patient in the ham/tsp group was found with the virus. conclusion: this study showed that the existence of htlv-1 virus in subgingival plaque of patients suffering from htlv-1 in carrier and ham/tsp stages with healthy periodon-tium is rare. studies with larger samples are recommended.