High Prevalence of Skin Disorders among HTLV-1 Infected Individuals Independent of Clinical Status

Background:human t-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (htlv-1) infection can increase the risk of developing skin disorders. this study evaluated the correlation between htlv-1 proviral load and cd4+ and cd8+ t cells count among htlv-1 infected individuals,with or without skin disorders (sd) associated with htlv-1 infection [sd-htlv-1: xerosis/ichthyosis,seborrheic dermatitis or infective dermatitis associated to htlv-1 (idh)].methods:a total of 193 htlv-1-infected subjects underwent an interview,dermatological examination,initial htlv-1 proviral load assay,cd4+ and cd8+ t cells count,and lymphproliferation assay (lpa).results:a total of 147 patients had an abnormal skin condition; 116 (79%) of them also had sd-htlv-1 and 21% had other dermatological diagnoses. the most prevalent sd-htlv-1 was xerosis/acquired ichthyosis (48%),followed by seborrheic dermatitis (28%). patients with sd-htlv-1 were older (51 vs. 47 years),had a higher prevalence of myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (ham/tsp) (75%),and had an increased first htlv-1 proviral load and basal lpa compared with patients without sd-htlv-1. when excluding ham/tsp patients,the first htlv-1 proviral load of sd-htlv-1 individuals remains higher than no sd-htlv-1 patients.conclusions:there was a high prevalence of skin disorders (76%) among htlv-1-infected individuals,regardless of clinical status,and 60% of these diseases are considered skin disease associated with htlv-1 infection. © 2013 okajima et al.