Seroprevalence study of HTLV-1 and HIV infection in blood donors and patients with lymphoid malignancies in Lagos, Nigeria.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To document the seroprevalence of HTLV-1 and HIV in blood donors and in patients with lymphoma and leukaemia in Lagos metropolis. DESIGN: Cross sectional. SETTING: The Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and General Hospital, Lagos (GH). SUBJECTS: 406 apparently healthy voluntary blood donors from the LUTH and GH and 30 patients [20 patients with histological diagnosis of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL) and 10 patients with diagnosis of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL)] were recruited at LUTH. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: HTLV-1 and HIV-1 seroprevalence. RESULTS: Out of 406 donors, three (0.7%) were positive for HTLV-1 and 20 (4.9%) were positive for HIV-1. None of the 30 patients with NHL or CLL were positive for HTLV-1. Five of NHL patients were positive for HIV-1. CONCLUSION: HTLV-1 seroprevalence is low among Lagos donors. Routine screening of donors for this virus will not be cost effective. NHL is one of the AIDS related malignancies which has been documented in this study.