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Review Article Volume 6 Issue 1
Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors of HTLV/HIV Co-Infection among People who inject Drugs (PWIDs): A Review
Caroline Chepkorir Koech, Raphael M Lwembe, Eddy O Odari, Nancy LM Budambula
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya
Center for Virus Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kenya
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Embu, Kenya
Received: October 27, 2017 | Published: January 2, 2018
Citation: Koech CC, Lwembe RM, Odari EO, Budambula NLM (2018) Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors of HTLV/HIV Co-Infection among People who inject Drugs (PWIDs): A Review. J Hum Virol Retrovirol 6(1): 00188. DOI: 10.15406/jhvrv.2018.06.00188
Abstract
Human T-cell lymphotropic viruses type 1 and 2 (HTLV1/2) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) co-infections show a worldwide distribution. The prevalence varies according to geographic region, racial group and population type. HTLVs and HIV share similar routes of transmission and tropism for T-lymphocytes thus co-infection is common. HTLV-HIV co- infections occur frequently among PWIDs (People Who Inject Drugs) and HIV positive patients. HTLV-1/HIV co-infection has been documented to accelerate progression to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) while HTLV-2 has a protective effect as a result of reduced HIV replication. This review primarily analyzed the global trends of prevalence and associated risk factors of HTLV mono-infection and HTLV-HIV co-infection among PWIDs.
Secondary objectives included an analysis on the global trends in prevalence and risk factors of HTLV/HIV co-infections among HIV positive patients and an analysis on HTLV subtypes present among PWIDs and HTLV-HIV co-infected PWIDs and patients. Based on the three categories, PUBMED and Google Scholar were systematically searched for relevant articles published between January 1988 and May 2017. A total of 67 articles from different countries were reviewed and results were presented in tables. Iran reported the highest HTLV prevalence among PWIDs while USA and Kenya (19.3%) reported the highest prevalence among HTLV-HIV co-infected PWIDS and patients respectively. Introduction of subtypes to countries that were previously not endemic suggested transmissions through immigration and travel. Based on the studies, black race and older age were the common risk factors among HTLV-HIV co-infected PWIDs and patients as well as HTLV infected PWIDs. High risk injection and sexual risk factors varied from one study to another. We recommend introduction of regular HTLV screening alongside HIV screening in outpatient clinics that PWIDs attend so as to reduce risk of transmission and to create awareness.
Keywords: HTLV-1, HTLV-2, HIV, PWIDs, Risk factors, Subtypes, Seroprevalence rates, Behaviors, Geographic, Efficiently, T-cell lymphoma, Agglutination, Prevention, Sexual transmission, Serum, Enzyme, Intravenous, Pathogens, Injecting equipment, Vertical, Syringes
©2018 Koech, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially.