ABSTRACT
Infection by human T-cell lymphotrophic virus type I (HTLV-I) is associated with a myelopathy known as tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP). The prevalence of HTLV-I infection was found to be high in a pilot study in Bahia, Brazil. In the present study, among patients with myleopathy of unclear etiology, 27 per cent (17/62) were immunoblot reactive to HTLV-I/II (serum and CSF), but none of 40 consecutive patients seen at the neurological clinic and having a well-established neurological diagnosis had detectable antibodies against those viruses (discrimination between HTLV-I and HTLV-II was not possible with the tests we used). The clinical syndrome of typical TSP with upper limb hyperreflexia was found to be a significant feature among the HTLV-I/II-seropositive patients compared to seronegative individuals. The 17 HTLV-I/II-reactive individuals had negative tests for syphilis, toxoplasmosis and schistosomiasis. TSP was also associated with female gender (P=0.001). We conclude that TSP is strongly associated with HTLV-I/II infection in women in Bahia.
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Adult , Spinal Cord Diseases/etiology , HTLV-I Infections/complications , HTLV-II Infections/complications , Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic/etiology , Brazil , Electromyography , HTLV-I Antibodies/analysis , HTLV-II Antibodies/analysis , Immunoassay , Reflex, Abnormal , Sex FactorsABSTRACT
Os autores apresentam estudo transversal da prevalência da discinesia tardia (DT) em pacientes internados em unidades psiquiátricas da cidade de Salvador durante o mês de setembro-1992. Após revisäo da literatura, comentam a prevalência média de DT encontrada: 1,65 por cento na populaçäo de 2115 pacientes, usando protocolo baseado na escala de Simpson