HTLVI infections Archives - Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia

PURPOSE: to evaluate the prevalence, epidemiological profile (age and origin) and vertical transmission rate of HTLV I/II infection in pregnant women screened by the Pregnant Protection Program of the State of Mato Grosso do Sul Brazil. METHODS: it is a descriptive and transversal study of 32,512 pregnant women submitted to a prenatal screening from November 2002 to October 2003. HTLV I/II infection was diagnosed in all pregnant women by ELISA, confirmed by Western blot and PCR. Congenital HTLV infection was investigated by ELISA test, Western blot and PCR performed on the child's blood sample. The associations between data (age, origin and HTLV infection) were statistically analyzed by the chi2 test considering p<0.05 to reject the null hypothesis. RESULTS: a prevalence of 0.1% (37) 0.1% HTLV I/II among 32,512 pregnant women was found. The mean age of the infected women was 25.4 ± 6.4 years, and 78.4% of them were from other areas than the capital. There was no association between maternal age and the patients' origin and infection. In all the eight evaluated newborns, which represented 21.6% of the sample, HTLV I/II serum antibodies were found. Only one newborn infant was breast-fed. CONCLUSIONS : HTLV I/II prevalence among pregnant women of the State of Mato Grosso do Sul Brazil was lower than the rates reported by endemic HTLV countries. This rate was almost the same as that described for non-endemic areas and in some Brazilian reports. The vertical transmission rate of HTLV I/II was 100%, in spite of breast-feeding having been proscribed. Improving the follow-up of the pregnant women and their newborns in the State is mandatory, since only a few infants were investigated.