Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I has been associated with adult T-cell leukemia and lymphoma, neurological disease (tropical spastic paraparesis or HTLV-I associated myelopathy) and, more recently, uveitis. This virus is highly endemic in some regions of the world, especially in southwest Japan, Caribbean islands, South America and parts of Central A frica1. The presence of HTLV-I/II in B...

HTLV-I and HTLV-II are endemic in some areas of Brazil, where an associated disease, HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) have been diagnosed in significant number of infected individuals. Tuberculosis has been demonstrated among those individuals, with higher prevalence than in the general population, suggesting that there is an increased risk for this comorbidit...

Infective dermatitis associated with HTLV-1 (IDH) is the main cutaneous marker of HTLV-1 infection. This disease occurs primarily in children and should be differentiated from other eczemas, especially from atopic dermatitis. The largest series of IDH are from Jamaica and Brazil. There are an estimated 15 to 20 million infected people in the world, and Brazil is one of the endemic regions. Stud...

Background: Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) is a rare acute autoimmune polyneuropathy, usually preceded by infections. It can be difficult to diagnose, especially in patients with underlying neurological comorbidities. Case: A 54-year-old male, long history of prolapsed intervertebral disc, presented progressive and asymmetrical onset tetraparesthesia for 4 weeks, which was associated paraparesis...

Human T cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1), the first human retrovirus discovered, is the etiologic agent for a number of disorders; the two most common pathologies include adult T cell leukemia (ATL) and a progressive demyelinating neuroinflammatory disease, HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). The neurologic dysfunction associated with HAM/TSP is a result of v...

BACKGROUND The most frequent form of autosomal dominant hereditary spastic paraparesis is associated with the SPG4 locus, described originally as a pure form of the disease. Mutations of the SPG4 gene have been increasingly associated with reports of cognitive impairment. OBJECTIVE To investigate cognitive function in 10 families with hereditary spastic paraparesis due to mutations in the SPG...

Human T-lymphotropic virus type II (HTLV-II) is a human retrovirus which is endemic in Amerindian and pygmy tribes. Molecular subtypes show geographic segregation consistent with an ancient origin of this virus within humans in Africa or South America. More recently, injection drug users in the United States and Europe have become infected with HTLV-II, and secondary sexual transmission has int...

    Human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) types 1 and 2 belong to the Oncorna group of retroviridae, a large family of viruses, grouped initially by pathogenic features, but later revised on the basis of genome structure and nucleotide sequence. HTLV-I was the first discovered human retrovirus to be associated with a malignancy in 1980. The malignancy, first described by Uchiyama and co-worker...