Situación actual de la infección por el VIH-2 y el HTLV-1/2 en España: luces y sombras

HTLV-1 myelopathy after renal transplant and antiviral prophylaxis: the need for screening

The human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is a RNA retrovirus that infects a minimum of 5-10 million people worldwide. Transmission by cell-containing blood products and solid organ transplantation has been reported. Clinical disease occurs in about 5-10% of infected individuals and consists mainly in adult T cell leukemia and HTLV-1-associated myelopathy (HAM). We present a 54-year-old woman who underwent kidney transplant from cadaveric donor in March 2015. Donor also underwent cornea extraction for another recipient (corneal transplant protocol includes HTLV-1/2 serology). Twenty-four hours after completion of kidney transplant donor, HTLV-1 serology was revealed positive. Following experts' recommendations, once donor seropositivity was demonstrated, antiviral prophylaxis including zidovudine and raltegravir was initially given to our patient, in spite of which the patient developed HAM. Once the diagnosis of HAM was established, antiretroviral therapy was restarted, and intravenous pulses of methylprednisolone were periodically administered with transient initial improvement. Later on, the patient experienced neurological deterioration becoming wheelchair dependent. Since the occurrence of this case, HTLV-1 screening has become mandatory for solid organ transplantation in the Spanish province of Navarra, and the same should happen worldwide.

Infectious agents associated with schizophrenia: a meta-analysis

Schizophrenia is a highly disabling and limiting disorder for patients and the possibility that infections by some microorganisms may be associated to its development may allow prevention and recovery. In the current study we have done a meta-analysis of studies that have assessed the possible association between detection of different infectious agents and schizophrenia. We report results that support the idea that there is a statistically significant association between schizophrenia and infection by Human Herpesvirus 2 (OR=1.34; CI 95%: 1.09-1.70; p=0.05), Borna Disease Virus (OR=2.03; CI 95%: 1.35-3.06; p<0.01), Human Endogenous Retrovirus W (OR=19.31; CI 95%: 6.74-55.29; p<0.001), Chlamydophila pneumoniae (OR=6.34; CI 95%: 2.83-14.19; p<0.001), Chlamydophila psittaci (OR=29.05; CI 95%: 8.91-94.70; p<0.001) and Toxoplasma gondii (OR=2.70; CI 95%: 1.34-4.42; p=0.005). The implications of these findings are discussed and further research options are also explicated.