Department of Health confirms that new HTLV-1 virus is different from HIV

SANTIAGO.– The government's decision to require that all blood banks test for the presence of the Human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV-1) in blood destined for transfusions was explained as a preventive measure by Undersecretary of Health, Jeannette Vega.

"This is not a virus similar to HIV AIDS …., it has very low transmissibility, only 5% of the carriers become ill", stated the undersecretary in an interview with Radio Cooperativa.

She went on to specify that this virus is a precursor to cancer, meaning that those who carry the virus are more predisposed to certain types of cancer such as leukemia, which tends to manifest around 20 to 30 years after being infected.

"What causes alarm is that this virus is genetically very similar to the HIV virus, but evidently the effects are very different", stated Vega.

The undersecretary also pointed out that the virus is not new, since it has been known about since the 1980's, what is new is the discovery of the relationship between this virus and the appearance of cancer years later.