What is tropical spastic paraparesis?

What is tropical spastic paraparesis?

For several decades the term “tropical spastic paraparesis” (TSP) has been used to describe a chronic and progressive disease of the nervous system that affects adults living in equatorial areas of the world and causes progressive weakness, stiff muscles, muscle spasms, sensory disturbance, and sphincter dysfunction.

What are the signs and symptoms of HTLV?

Signs & Symptoms Initial symptoms are subtle and include gait problems, unexplained falls, low back pain, constipation, urinary urgency/incontinence and numbness or pain in the lower limbs. Over the years, progressive leg weakness ensues followed by the exacerbation of the urinary and sensory symptoms.

What does HTLV 2 cause?

Human T-cell leukemia virus, type 2 (HTLV-2) is a retroviral infection that affect the T cells (a type of white blood cell). Although this virus generally causes no signs or symptoms, scientists suspect that some affected people may later develop neurological problems and/or chronic lung infections.

What is spastic myelopathy?

HTLV-1 Associated Myelopathy (HAM) is a slowly progressive, chronic disease of the spinal cord seen in some people infected with the HTLV-1 virus, which results in painful stiffness and weakness of the legs. HAM is also referred to as chronic progressive myelopathy or tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP).

What causes tropical spastic paraparesis?

Tropical spastic paraparesis/HTLV-1–associated myelopathy is a slowly progressive disorder of the spinal cord caused by the human T-lymphotropic virus 1 (HTLV-1). The virus is spread through sexual contact, use of illegal injected drugs, exposure to blood, or breastfeeding.

What does HTLV do to the body?

The human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 is also known by the acronym HTLV-1, or as human T-cell leukaemia virus type 1. The virus can cause a type of cancer called adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma (ATL). HTLV-1 is transmitted primarily through infected bodily fluids including blood, breast milk and semen.

Should I worry about HTLV?

Although a few individuals have severe symptoms, most patients remain asymptomatic throughout their lives and their infections may be unknown to many health professionals. HTLV-1 can be considered a neglected public health problem and there are not many studies specifically on patients’ needs and emotional experiences.

Is HTLV-2 serious?

The long-term outlook for most people infected with HTLV-2 is good. Infection with HTLV-2 is lifelong, but 95% of affected people have no signs or symptoms of the condition. Although, HTLV-2-related health problems tend to be significantly milder than those associated with HTLV1.

How do you get tropical spastic paraparesis?

Is myelopathy a neurological disorder?

Causes of myelopathy include spinal stenosis, spinal trauma and spinal infections, as well as autoimmune, oncological, neurological and congenital disorders. Myelopathy can be cervical and thoracic; cervical myelopathy is the most prevalent. Myelopathy is typically a gradual degenerative process affecting older adults.

What causes TSP?

Tropical spastic paraparesis/HTLV-1–associated myelopathy (TSP/HAM) is a slowly progressive viral immune-mediated disorder of the spinal cord caused by the human T-lymphotropic virus 1 (HTLV-1). It causes spastic weakness of both legs.

Does spasticity get worse over time?

These symptoms of severe spasticity can worsen gradually over time and lead to loss of movement control, muscle weakness, increased care needs, and even sexual dysfunction. Spasticity may occur or worsen because of other conditions (like constipation or infection) or in stressful situations.

Is HTLV an STD?

The transmission of HTLV-1 from women to men could increase due to the presence of STIs and the amount of viral load secreted, as is the case with HIV-1 (20). This would mean the treatment and prevention of STIs with the use of condoms could reduce transmission.

What does HTLV positive mean?

A positive HTLV-I/II molecular test indicates that the person tested has an HTLV-I or HTLV-II infection. If the molecular result is negative, then the person is less likely to be infected, but it cannot be ruled out as the amount of virus in the blood may have been too low to detect at the time of the test.

Will I get sick from HTLV?

HTLV-1 is a type of human immunodeficiency virus. It causes no symptoms in a vast majority of infected people. However, it can lead to serious illnesses in some.

What is TSP test?

The traveling salesman problem (TSP) is a combinatorial optimization problem that requires finding the shortest path through a set of points (“cities”) that returns to the starting point.

What TSP means?

teaspoon
abbreviation. (plural tsp, tsps) ​teaspoon.