Geographical distribution of areas with a high prevalence of HTLV-1 infection

​The maps on Human T-lymphotropic Virus-1 (HTLV-1) high prevalence areas in the world aim to support national authorities when assessing the suitability of tissues and cells donors in light of the EU Commission Directive 2012/39/EU regarding certain technical requirements for the testing of human issues and cells intended for human application.

According to the requirements laid out in the Directive, HTLV-1 antibody testing must be performed for donors living in, or originating from high-prevalence areas or with sexual partners originating from those areas or where the donor’s parents originate from those areas and this applies to both donors of non-reproductive tissues and cells and reproductive cells.