2018-10-012018-10-012004-02MACEDO, Olinda et al. Human T-cell lymphotropic virus types I and II infections in a cohort of patients with neurological disorders in Belém, Pará, Brazil. Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo, São Paulo, v. 46, n. 1, p. 13-17, jan./fev. 2004. Disponível em: <http://repositorio.ufpa.br/jspui/handle/2011/10268>. Acesso em:.1678-9946https://repositorio.ufpa.br/handle/2011/10268Serum- and/or- cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples obtained from 190 patients suffering from chronic, progressive neurological disease were screened for the presence of human T-cell lymphotropic viruses type I (HTLV-I) and type II (HTLV-II) antibodies over a six-year period (1996 to 2001) in Belém, Pará, Brazil. Patients were of both sexes (male subjects, 52%) with ages ranging from 2 to 79 years (mean, 35.9). Overall, 15 (7.9%) subjects - of whom 12 (80%) were female adults - reacted HTLV-I/II-seropositive when screened by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Serum samples from 14 of these patients were also analyzed using a recombinant Western blot (WB) assay that yielded HTLV-I-, HTLV-II-, and HTLV-I/II- reactivities for 10 (71.4%), 3 (21.4%) and 1 (7.2%) of them, respectively. The yearly rates of HTLV-I/II antibodies ranged from 2.6% (2001) to 21.7% (2000), with progressively increasing seropositivities from 1998 to 2000. Altogether, walking difficulty (n = 5 subjects), spasticity (n = 4) and leg weakness (n = 3) accounted for 80% of symptoms recorded among the 15 patients whose sera had antibodies to HTLV-I/II as detected by ELISA. These findings provide evidence that both HTLV-I and HTLV-II play a role in the development of chronic myelopathy in Belém, Pará, Northern Brazil.Acesso AbertoHTLV-IHTLV-IIDoença neurológicaInfecção viralVírus linfotrópicosArtigo de PeriódicoCNPQ::CIENCIAS EXATAS E DA TERRAhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0036-46652004000100003