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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Multicellular Human Alveolar Model Composed of Epithelial Cells and Primary Immune Cells for Hazard Assessment
Published on: May 6, 2020
HTLV-II transmission to a health care worker
1Division of Neurology, Hospital São Lucas, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) and HTLV Reference Center, Prefeitura Municipal de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil. mbarreto@uol.com.br
Abstract:
Health care workers, mainly in emergency and forensic services, are at risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens. Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I and type II (HTLV-I and HTLV-II) are cosmopolitan human delta retroviruses causing endemic infection in Japan, the Caribbean basin, South America, and sub-Saharan Africa, and in clusters among intravenous drug users in Europe and the United States. The seroprevalence of HTLV-I and HTLV-II among Brazilian blood donors ranges from 0.08% to 1.35%. HTLV-I transmission to a Japanese researcher has already been reported. We describe the transmission of HTLV-II infection to a Brazilian laboratory worker caused by a needlestick injury when she was recapping a syringe after collecting material for arterial blood gas analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an occupational transmission of HTLV-II to a health care worker.
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