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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Infectious Diseases: Epidemiology and Prevention
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1459707
This article is part of the Research Topic HTLV-1 and EBV-related disorders: pathogenesis and clinical advances View all articles

First report on human T-lymphotropic virus 1 infection in a group of transgender women

Provisionally accepted
Megmar A. Carneiro Megmar A. Carneiro 1*Mykaella Cristina Araújo Margarida Mykaella Cristina Araújo Margarida 1Bruno Vinícius Diniz E Silva Bruno Vinícius Diniz E Silva 1Ágabo M. Silva Ágabo M. Silva 1Marcia A. Matos Marcia A. Matos 1Karlla A. Caetano Karlla A. Caetano 2SHEILA A. TELES SHEILA A. TELES 2Antonio Carlos R. Vallinoto Antonio Carlos R. Vallinoto 3Regina MB Martins Regina MB Martins 1*
  • 1 Institute of Tropical Pathology and Public Health, Federal University of Goiás, Goiânia-Goiás, Brazil
  • 2 Faculty of Nursing, Federal University of Goiás,, Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil
  • 3 Laboratory of Virology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    There is a lack of data on human T-lymphotropic virus 1 (HTLV-1) infection among transgender women (TGW). Therefore, this study estimated the prevalence of HTLV-1 infection in a group of TGW in Brazil.A cross-sectional study was conducted with 235 TGW in Goiânia City, Central Brazil. Respondent-driven sampling was used for recruitment. All participants were interviewed, and serum samples were tested for anti-HTLV-1/2 using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA; Murex HTLV-I+II, DiaSorin, Dartford, UK). Seropositive samples were submitted for confirmation by Western blot (WB; MP Diagnostics HTLV BLOT 2.4 test, MP Biomedicals, Germany).The majority of participants were young (≤ 25 years old), self-declared mixed or brown ethnicity, single, had attended high school, and had a monthly income above US$ 255 (R$ 1,000,00; nearly the minimum wage in Brazil at the time). Most reported earlier age at first sex and various risk behaviors for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Three TGW were anti-HTLV-1/2 positive by ELISA and were subsequently positive for HTLV-1 by WB, giving a crude HTLV-1 seroprevalence of 1.3%; 1.0% (95% CI: 0.0-1.9) after being weighted by RDS Analysis Tool (RDSAT). The HTLV-1 seropositive TGW reported high-risk sexual behaviors. In addition, one of them also engaged in injecting drug use. Conclusion: These data indicate the circulation of HTLV-1 in TGW in Goiânia City, Central Brazil. Given the alarming estimates of high-risk sexual behaviors, there is an urgent need to intensify health programs targeting this population to control and prevent HTLV-1 and other STIs effectively.

    Keywords: HTLV-1, transgender women, Prevalence, RDS, Brazil

    Received: 04 Jul 2024; Accepted: 17 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Carneiro, Araújo Margarida, Diniz E Silva, Silva, Matos, Caetano, TELES, Vallinoto and Martins. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Megmar A. Carneiro, Institute of Tropical Pathology and Public Health, Federal University of Goiás, Goiânia-Goiás, Brazil
    Regina MB Martins, Institute of Tropical Pathology and Public Health, Federal University of Goiás, Goiânia-Goiás, Brazil

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