Epidemiologia molecular do vírus T-Linfotrópico Humano no Estado do Maranhão

Abstract

As an oncogenic retrovirus, the human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV) has the potential to cause serious clinical manifestations, such as neurodegenerative diseases and leukemias. With transmission from mother to child, unprotected sex and shared contaminated materials. Despite being little known, it was the first retrovirus discovered, and has a global distribution, where South America is endemic for this virus. With its origins pointing to Africa, HTLV arrived in Brazil due to the intense trafficking of enslaved people in the 16th century, and today the states with the highest prevalence were the states that received the most enslaved people at that time, such as Bahia, Pará and Maranhão. . This study is unprecedented research, dealing with the screening and molecular characterization of HTLV in traditional quilombola communities in the state of Maranhão. Therefore, the research aims to identify and characterize cases of HTLV infection in the state. For this, blood samples were collected for biomolecular analysis in order to identify the virus and its subtypes, as well as the phylogenetic study. In our results, the majority of individuals reported low education and an illiteracy rate of 20.2%, in addition, a low use of condoms (51.8%) during sexual relations was observed. The positive case found is a 70-year-old woman, who reported having had 12 children, said that her first relationship was when she was 14, she is currently sexually active and reported having had up to 30 sexual partners. In the phylogeny results carried out with the positive sample from the quilombo and with 8 other samples from a previous study by our research group, it was possible to observe a close relationship between the genomes and locations that present the same historical process. In conclusion, the sociodemographic factors identified in this research are worrying, as the HTLV virus is already present in these groups, and the phylogenetic tree contributes to other studies that demonstrate the possible entry of the virus into Brazil. Therefore, it is crucial to implement intrafamilial screening, as well as promote public policies and awareness about HTLV.