Screening for human T‐cell lymphotrophic virus type I (HTLV‐I) infection in Jewish psychiatric patients of Iranian origin

Abstract

A high prevalence of human T‐cell lymphotrophic virus type I (HTLV‐I) infection has been identified in Israel among the Mashhadi Jewish community originating from northern Iran. In the present study we screened and examined Iranian‐born psychiatric outpatients for the presence of HTLV‐I infection. The presence of HTLV‐I antibodies was determined by the gelatin particle agglutination test, and simultaneously by the Western blot method. Screening of 50 (26 males, 24 females) Iranian‐born Israeli Jewish psychiatric outpatients showed 2% (one of 50) prevalence of HTLV‐I seropositivity. This low rate of HTLV‐I virus carriers in the study population indicates that there is no association between HTLV‐I infection and psychiatric morbidity in non‐Mashhadi Iranian‐born Jewish psychiatric patients.