On the World HTLV Day (10th November), we focus on how the Human T leukaemia virus affects people, and review new developments in HTLV treatment and vaccination medicine. HTLV is a retrovirus similar to HIV which incorporates its DNA indefinitely into the human CD4 T lymphocytes. It is predominantly transmitted through condomless sex, but also from mother-to-child and through contact with HTLV positive blood. Unlike HIV, HTLV causes severe disease only in about 5% of PLHTLV, so it is easy for HTLV transmission to go unnoticed. The two dominant HTLV associated diseases are Adult T cell leukaemia (ATL) and HTLV-1 associated myelopathy (HAM/TSP).

Participants:

STI's Podcast Editor, Dr Fabiola Martin, interview Ms Kristy Blakeborough, Lived experience and UK patient rep; Prof Yoshihisa Yamano, Neurologist St Marianna University Japan; A/P Keith Chappell, University of Queensland.

Read the blog post: https://blogs.bmj.com/sti/2021/11/10/world_htlv_day/

Other relevant links:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2818%2930974-7/fulltext https://gvn.org/who/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27965813/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33250897/