Anti-HTLV-I/II Seroprevalence in Healthy Blood Donors in İzmir, Turkey.

Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) is the first human retrovirus to be associated with malignant disease-namely, adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma. HTLV-I has also been associated with several diseases. HTLV-I has a worldwide distribution with major endemic foci in the Caribbean and Southern Japan. HTLV-II is a closely related retrovirus that shares considerable genomic homology with HTLV-I but has not been proven to be a pathogen. Major routes of transmission are blood transfusion, breast milk and sexual activity. In this study, we examined the seroprevalance of HTLV-I/II among healthy blood donors attended to Ege University Hospital in Izmir. 913 healthy blood donors were examined for the presence of anti-HTLV-I/II antibody in their sera. Serum specimens were tested with an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) (Organon Teknika, Vironostika HTLV-I/II Microelisa System, Holland). All of the 913 healthy blood donors were seronegative with EIA. These findings indicate that screening of blood donors for HTLV I/II is not necessary at present time.