Guidance

UKAP: HTLV-1 in healthcare workers and exposure prone procedures

Recommendations on HTLV-1 based on a review of the evidence for prevalence and transmission and the effectiveness of standard infection prevention and control.

• From: UK Health Security Agency
• Published: 21 December 2022

Documents

UKAP statement on risk of HTLV-1 transmission from healthcare workers to patients during exposure-prone procedures

HTML

Details

The UK Advisory Panel for Healthcare Workers Living with Bloodborne Viruses (UKAP) position statement on the risk of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) transmission from healthcare workers (HCWs) to patients during exposure-prone procedures (EPPs) provides a review of the available evidence and recommendations from the UKAP panel.

The evidence review concluded a lack of evidence. At the current time, UKAP has therefore provided the following recommendations:

1. Health clearance for HTLV-1 through occupational health services for exposure-prone procedure (EPP) performing HCWs should not be introduced at this time.
2. UKAP does not currently advise any restriction from EPP practice for HCWs with a known HTLV-1 infection.
3. UKAP does not currently recommend routine occupational health monitoring of HCWs infected with HTLV-1.
4. If occupational health or other services require support or advice regarding HTLV-1 exposures, they should seek advice from a local virologist, local health protection teams and national experts on HTLV.
5. Further training of HCWs and research are recommended.

Published 21 December 2022