Designing a Human T-Lymphotropic Virus Type 1 (HTLV-I) Diagnostic Model using the Complete Blood Count

Infection caused by Human T-Lymphotropic Virus Type 1 (HTLV-I) can be observed in some areas of Iran in form of endemic. Most of the cases are asymptomatic, and few cases progress to malignancies and neural diseases. Designing and implementing a model to screen people especially in endemic regions can help timely detection of infected people and improve the prognosis of the disease.

In this study, results of the complete blood count (CBC-diff) for 599 healthy people and the patients with different types of Leukemia and HTLV-I have been examined. Modeling was made using CHAID method. The final model was carried out based on the number of white blood cells (WBC), platelets, and percentages of eosinophils.

The accuracy of the final model was 91%. By applying this model to the CBC-diff results of people without symptoms or miscellaneous patients in endemic regions of our country, disease carriers can be identified and referred for supplementary tests.

With regard to the prevalence of different complications in infected people, these individuals can be identified earlier, leading to the improvement of the prognosis of this disease and the increase of the health status especially in endemic regions.