Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2025 Mar 20;17(3):446.
doi: 10.3390/v17030446.

Human T-Cell Lymphotropic Virus (HTLV 1/2) in Ecuador: Time for Action

Miguel Angel Garcia-Bereguiain  1 , Solon Alberto Orlando  2   3 , Melissa Joseth Carvajal Capa  4 , Manuel Gonzalez  2   5
Affiliations
Review

Human T-Cell Lymphotropic Virus (HTLV 1/2) in Ecuador: Time for Action

Miguel Angel Garcia-Bereguiain et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

The human T-cell lymphotropic viruses of type 1 and 2 (HTLV 1/2) are retroviruses with estimations of 10 million people infected worldwide. HTLV 1/2 viruses are endemic in South America where Indigenous and Afro American populations are considered of high risk. Although several case reports of HTLV 1/2 associated pathologies and some prevalence studies have been reported in Ecuador, the country lacks a national surveillance and control program, and no screening of blood or organ donors is currently done. We discuss the problems associated to HTLV 1/2 in Ecuador and propose a strategy to improve a surveillance and control program.

Keywords: Ecuador; HTLV 1; HTLV 2; surveillance.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control . Geographical Distribution of Areas with a High Prevalence of HTLV-1 Infection. ECDC; Stockholm, Sweden: 2015.
    1. Gessain A., Cassar O. Epidemiological aspects and world distribution of HTLV-1 infection. Front. Microbiol. 2012;3:388. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2012.00388. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Murphy E.L., Cassar O., Gessain A. Estimating the number of HTLV-2 infected persons in the world. Retrovirology. 2015;12((Suppl. S1)):O5. doi: 10.1186/1742-4690-12-S1-O5. - DOI
    1. Carneiro-Proietti A.B.F., Catalan-Soares B.C., Castro-Costa C.M., Murphy E.L., Sabino E.C., Hisada M., Galvão-Castro B., Alcantara L., Remondegui C., Verdonck K., et al. HTLV in the Americas: Challenges and perspectives. Rev. Panam. Salud Publica. 2006;19:44–53. doi: 10.1590/S1020-49892006000100007. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Murphy E.L., Wilks R., Hanchard B., Cranston B., Figueroa J.P., Gibbs W.N., Murphy J., A Blattner W. A case-control study of risk factors for seropositivity to human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) in Jamaica. Int. J. Epidemiol. 1996;25:1083–1089. doi: 10.1093/ije/25.5.1083. - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources