Frequency of Human T-Cell Lymphotropic Virus (HTLV) Type 1 and 2 Infection in HIV Infected Patients

Background and objectives: human t-cell lymphotropic viruses (htlv) type 1 and 2 are retroviruses that share the same routes of transmission as human immunodeficiency virus (hiv). as a consequence of epidemiologic similarities, hiv and htlv-1/2 co infection is frequent. due to the limited data, this study assessed the seroprevalence of htlv-1/2 infections in hiv infected patients in tehran, iran.materials and methods: this case-control study was carried out in 180 hiv infected patients from iranian hiv/aids research center in tehran and 117 matched healthy controls. the serum samples were checked with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) for anti htlv-1/2.results: a total of 180 hiv positive patients with mean age 36.9±9.2 years and 117 matched controls were enrolled in the study. all cases and controls were negative for htlv-1/2 infection.conclusion: htlv-1/2 infection is negligible in hiv infected patients in tehran, iran, although intravenous drug use is the most common route of hiv transmission in our study subjects