Severe demyelinating myelopathy with low human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 expression after transfusion in an immunosuppressed patient.

Ozden, Simona; Seilhean, Danielle; Gessain, Antoine; Hauw, Jean-Jacques; Gout, Olivier · Clin Infect Dis · 2002

case_report · Level V

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Abstract

We describe an immunosuppressed patient who developed myelopathy after transfusion with human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1-infected blood products during cardiac transplantation; immunoglobulins and fibrinogen deposition indicated disruption of the blood-brain barrier. The low degree of inflammation and virus expression suggests that demyelination may have been caused by an antibody- and complement-mediated process and by an alteration of the spinal cord microenvironment with activation of microglial cells and astrocytes.

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