Parkinsonism in a Patient with Human T-lymphotropic Virus 1 Myelopathy

Abstract

Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 (HTLV-1) infection is commonly associated with neurological conditions like chronic progressive myelopathy and tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP) but rarely also reported with polymyositis, multiple sclerosis, and parkinsonism. It is important to recognize that HTLV-1 infection increases the risk of these neurological conditions. We present a case of 71-year-old female with HTLV-1 associated chronic progressive myelopathy with parkinsonism which signifies that it is under-recognized and not frequently reported due to lack of expert neurological assessment in these chronically debilitated patients.