Human T-Cell Lymphotropic Virus (HTLV-1) Infection in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: A Review of a Forgotten Epidemic

Abstract

Background: The distribution of HTLV affects nearly 7 million people around the world. The prevalence of this infection varies among different geographic regions as well as populations. Objective: The objective of this review was to present the epidemiological data on HTLV infection in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Method: This review consisted of cataloging various studies, published articles and summaries presented in scientific conferences having as a subject of interest the epidemiology of HTLV in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The search was done using MEDLINE/PubMed, Embase (Via Ovid), Cochrane, Google scholar, and POPLINE. To identify the articles from the different sources, the search was carried out using the following keywords: "HTLV, HTLV Infection, HTLV Epidemiology, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo". Publications were selected according to the relevance of the methodology as well as the results and the representativeness of the samples. Results: In 1990, Kayembe K. et al. conducted a study in the city of Lisala on 32 patients screened for chronic symmetrical spastic paraparesis of which 25 (96%) had anti-HTLV-1 markers in their serum. Goubau P. et al. had 102 sera samples collected in 1970 from a population of Bambuti pygmies in Zaire, 14 (13.7%) were positive for HTLV-2. Jeannel D. et al. conducted a study in Inongo in 1990 on 1162 patients, 36 (3.1%) were positive for anti-HTLV-1 markers. In the same year, Moulia-Pelat J.P. et al. conducted 2 studies, one on 230 Pygmies and the other on 680 Bantu, the prevalence of HTLV markers was 8.3% and 5.5% in Pygmies and Bantu respectively. In another study carried out by Goubau P. et al. in 1993, the preva-