Discussions By Condition: Rare Disases

Htlv 1/11

Posted In: Rare Disases 6 Replies
  • Posted By: smnsam
  • December 20, 2007
  • 07:23 PM

I have donated blood and after a month recieved a report mentioning that my blood was falsly positive either 1 or 2, HTLV. since I am a clean person and no contact with any male or femail except my wife do I have to worry about this false positive result? And I consider false positive means normal test positive and confirmation test negative, doesn't it means I am negative?
Please give me some answers?

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  • Have you been overseas or received any innoculations? http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/535044False Positive Test Results during Donor ScreeningThe causes of false positive test results for HCV and retroviruses are poorly understood. Flu vaccines administered in 1992 were associated with an increase in false positive results for these viruses.24 However, the proteins responsible for cross-reactivity have not yet been identified. Tests for low-prevalence infections, even tests with excellent specificity and sensitivity, will always be associated with a substantial proportion of false positive results. Consequently, test characteristics, as well as culture and PCR results, can provide reassurance for donors who are not at risk but who have had positive screening-test results and negative or indeterminate confirmatory-test results. As PCR technology improves, it will probably become the most reliable means of establishing whether a positive result represents infection or is a false positive result. http://cvi.asm.org/cgi/content/full/5/5/721Eighty-three percent of the Indonesian transmigrants we studied clearly demonstrated seroconversion to the P. falciparum Exp-1 blood-stage antigen postmigration to an area where malaria is endemic. Of those who seroconverted, 27% simultaneously seroconverted to HTLV-I, as shown by EIA. These seroconversions were false positives, as indicated by indeterminate Western blot banding patterns obtained upon confirmatory testing. The simultaneous development of a false-positive HTLV-I EIA result and a statistically significant correlation between HTLV-I and Exp-1 OD values provides suggestive evidence that this malaria protein is responsible for the production of the HTLV-I antibodies.
    Monsterlove 2921 Replies
    • December 24, 2007
    • 07:08 AM
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  • BTW, I don't think this is such a rare disease. The stats in Japan are staggering... I think your wife should get tested and you should be tested again, along for Plasmodium parasite ...here's another one http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3855/is_199905/ai_n8840808The diagnosis of these retroviruses infection is generally based on an specific antibody detection. Antibodies against various viral structure proteins are measured by a number of simple and sensitive initial screening tests. The commercially available enzyme immune assay (EIA) has been well established and widely used as a highly sensitive method for screening blood donors and high-risk individuals for antibody to human retroviruses3, but "false positive" results have been shown to occur with this test because of cross reactions to HLA antigens, some parasites such as Plasmodium and T. cruzi or other retroviruses. Other causes of false positive test results are repeated by freezing and thawing of the serum specimen, lipemic serum specimens, serum containing hemolyzed red blood cells, highly concentrations of immunocomplexes, etc3. Another commonly used method is the Particle Agglutination assay (PA). It has several major advantages including easy management and sensitivity to the detection of antibodies to whole viral antigens11. A reliable confirmatory, well accepted assay must be used to retest all EIA-PA positive specimens because specificity is less than 100%. Serological assays known to be effective for confirming positive results include: Immunofluorescence assay (IFA), Radioimmunoprecipitation assay (RIPA) and Western blot test (Wb)
    Monsterlove 2921 Replies
    • December 24, 2007
    • 07:45 AM
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  • Dear Monsterlove,since You seem to be so much informed about HTLV infections, please forgive me a pair of questions on this matter.I have been recently diagnosed and confirmed as HTLV 1 infected. I am a male, 36 years old. I have no doubt that I got infected in november 2006; so my infection is recent. Physicians reassure me that this fact means in first place that I has not to worry about leukemia at this moment, but also that I could expect to remain healty for a long time in the future. Nevertheless, I have a large complex of symptoms, including the “classical” early features of paraparesis, like gait disturbances and a little ataxic walking, difficulty in making stairs and in raising from chairs, (especially middle) back pain, generalized paresthesias, burning sensation, numbness in limbs and some superficial sensory impairments, severe muscle aches and spasms in whole body, especially at legs but also at arms, shoulders and neck flexors, bladder symptoms (frequency, urgency and recurrent little urinary tract infections). Furthermore I have also generalized painful arthritis (with swallowing and painful joints), neck, throat, groin, chest, axils and elbows lymphadenopathy, extreme fatigue, sweats, headache, dizziness, vertigo, nausea, liver pain and gastritis, bowel constipation and constant diarrhea, heart arythmias and tachycardia (viral myocarditis?), pain at chest (esophagitis? lung problems?), odinophagy and disphony, constant bronchitis, shortness of breath and lung problems, clogged ears and strong tinnitus, red burning eyes, oral mucosa sores and candidiasis, gingivitis, generalized dryness of mucosa and skin, diffuse eczematous dermatitis, rash and several other dermatological troubles. I’m experiencing these troubles since 1 year ago. My haematochimical analysis are almost normal. I had only a light leukocytosis, now normalized, albumina and GPT a little increased; normal CPK; no autoantibodies; no objective neurological findings. I still don’t know what the viral load is. Firts question is: are these symptoms the normal state of a HTLV carrier? Are these the HTLV carrier “healthy” conditions? Or instead am I rapidly progressing to full-blown pathologies? In particular, am I in the early stages of TSP? I’ve never meet another HTLV carrier, but I’m sure is true that in most cases carriers are really asymptomatic. The other question: do You think that we can hope that this virus could be taken in more serious consideration, and that drugs for controlling the infection will be developed soon?Thank You very much, Alb.
    Anonymous 42789 Replies Flag this Response
  • Hi ALB, Please can I have ur e-mail, I am going through all those symptoms that u've mentioned and I don't know where to find any information or talk to anyone. I really need some help, Thank you,
    Anonymous 42789 Replies Flag this Response
  • Dear ALB, I am going through all those symptoms that u've mentioned could you please write to me on mad.max09@hotmail.com, I would really appreciate if you could give me some informaiton on HTLV or where can I find more people and more information on this.thank youMady
    mad.max09 1 Replies Flag this Response
  • I'd like to know how you are doing, and also let you know about a patient in Greece treated with 8 months of Vidaza, which apparently cleared the virus. Please lobby the doctors and drug company that makes Vidaza to sponsor a clinical trial to see if Vidaza does cure HTLV, as is the case with the Greek patient. That's more constructive than waiting for the inevitable.
    AlvinBishop 36 Replies Flag this Response
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