The human T cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) has a worldwide distribution. HTLV is endemic in some states in the northeastern region of Brazil. This study investigated the prevalence of HTLV-1/2 in 713 pregnant women attended at the Central Laboratory of Public Health of Maranhão (LACEN-MA) between February 2015 and May 2017. Serological screening was performed by chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay (CMIA), and reactive sera were subsequently confirmed by Western blot (WB) analysis. Five samples were determined to be HTLV-1/2-reactive by CMIA analysis, while in the WB analysis, three sera were positive for HTLV-1, and two were indeterminate. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis used to detect HTLV-1 proviral DNA showed a specific 336 base pair fragment for HTLV-1 in all CMIA-reactive serum samples. PCR products were purified and sequenced. We observed a 0.7% molecular prevalence of HTLV-1 infection. The average age of the HTLV-1-positive pregnant women was 25.6 ± 8.2 years, and the average age of the HTLV-1-negative pregnant women was 24.3 ± 6.2 ( p = 0.60). We observed that there was no association of HTLV-1 infection with age, ethnicity, marital status, educational level, family income, age of first sexual intercourse, previous pregnancy, breastfeeding, intravenous drug use by partner, history of blood transfusions, or use of condoms. The prevalence of HTLV-1 observed in pregnant women demonstrated the need to implement public health policies for the screening of HTLV-1/2 in prenatal care and counseling to avoid breastfeeding by infected women; this approach could control vertical transmission and reduce the spread of this virus in the population.

中文翻译：

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巴西马拉尼昂州孕妇人 T 细胞嗜淋巴细胞病毒 1 型的分子检测

人类 T 细胞嗜淋巴细胞病毒 (HTLV) 在世界范围内均有分布。HTLV 在巴西东北部地区的一些州流行。本研究调查了 2015 年 2 月至 2017 年 5 月期间在马拉尼昂公共卫生中心实验室 (LACEN-MA) 就诊的 713 名孕妇中 HTLV-1/2 的流行情况。血清学筛查采用化学发光微粒免疫测定法 (CMIA)，以及随后通过蛋白质印迹（WB）分析证实了反应性血清。通过 CMIA 分析确定五个样品具有 HTLV-1/2 反应性，而在 WB 分析中，三个血清为 HTLV-1 阳性，两个不确定。用于检测 HTLV-1 前病毒 DNA 的聚合酶链反应 (PCR) 分析显示，在所有 CMIA 反应性血清样本中，HTLV-1 都有一个特定的 336 碱基对片段。PCR产物被纯化和测序。我们观察到 HTLV-1 感染的分子流行率为 0.7%。HTLV-1阳性孕妇的平均年龄为25.6±8.2岁，HTLV-1阴性孕妇的平均年龄为24.3±6.2（p=0.60）。我们观察到 HTLV-1 感染与年龄、种族、婚姻状况、教育水平、家庭收入、第一次性交年龄、既往怀孕、母乳喂养、伴侣静脉注射药物、输血史或使用避孕套。在孕妇中观察到的 HTLV-1 流行表明需要实施公共卫生政策，在产前护理和咨询中筛查 HTLV-1/2，以避免受感染妇女进行母乳喂养；