Rapid Development of Myelopathy after HTLV-I Infection Acquired by Transfusion during Cardiac Transplantation

HUMAN T-cell lymphotropic virus Type I (HTLV-I), considered to be the causative agent of adult T-cell lymphoma/leukemia,1 , 2 is also associated with a chronic myelopathy (tropical spastic paraparesis) that is endemic in the Caribbean,3 , 4 Africa,5 6 7 and South America,8 and with HTLV-I—associated neuropathy in Japan.9 HTLV-I is transmitted sexually, chiefly from men to women, from mother to child by breast-feeding, and by blood transfusion.10 , 11 In Europe and the United States, there is a low prevalence of carriers of HTLV-I antibody (less than 0.03 percent) among blood donors. The infection is found mainly in people from areas endemic for HTLV-I and among intravenous . . .