ABSTRACT
To determine the prevalence of Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus [HTLV] in corneal donors at the Eye Bank of I.R. Iran from 2005 to 2007. Serologic tests for HTLV-1, 2 were performed in all donors at the Eye Bank from August 2005 to July 2007. Hospital and medicolegal reports of HTLV-reactive cases as well as their geographic origin were reviewed. Overall, 5533 donors including 4467 [80.7%] male subjects aged from 2 to 84 years were evaluated. Thirty seven [0.67%] cases with mean age of 45.8 +/- 17 [range 7-84] years were seropositive for HTLV-1, 2 of whom 26 [70.3%] were male. The most common causes of death in HTLV-reactive cases were car accidents [37.8%] followed by cardiovascular diseases [24.3%], falls [10.8%] and drug intoxication [10.8%]. No evidence of neurologic or hematologic disorders was found on reviewing the hospital and medicolegal reports of HTL V -reactive cases. This is the first report on HTLV-reactivity in corneal donors in Iran revealing a prevalence of 1 per 150 cases