International Journal of Blood transfusion and Immunohematology, Vol. 6; 2016. Original article OPen acceSS Int J Blood Transfus Immunohematol 2016;6:12–19. www.ijbti.com Manga et al. 12 Serosurvey of human T cell lymphotropic virus I/II among blood donors in Gombe (Nigeria) Mohammed Mohammed Manga, Adeola Fowotade, Saleh Yuguda, Girei Ahmed Iya, Mohammed Yahaya, Yakubu Munkaila Sheriff, Omoruyi Ewean Chukwuma, Ibrahim Musa Yola, Rasheed Ajani Bakare AbstrAct Aim: this study was carried out to determine the prevalence of human t cell lymphotropic virus I/II (HtLV I/II) among blood donors at the Federal teaching Hospital Gombe (FtHG), North-eastern, Nigeria. Methods: A total of 355 Mohammed Mohammed Manga 1 , Adeola Fowotade 2 , Saleh Yuguda 3 , Girei Ahmed Iya 4 , Mohammed Yahaya 5 , Yakubu Munkaila Sheriff 6 , Omoruyi Ewean Chukwuma 7 , Ibrahim Musa Yola 8 , Rasheed Ajani Bakare 9 Affiliations: 1 MBBS, Lecturer and Consultant, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe, Gombe state Nigeria; 2 MBBS, MSc Medi- cal Virology, Lecturer and Consultant, Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, University College Hospital Ibadan, Oyo state Nigeria; 3 MBBS, Lecturer and Consult- ant, Department of Haematology, Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe, Gombe state Nigeria; 4 MBBS, Consultant, Depart- ment of Haematology, Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe, Gombe state Nigeria; 5 MBBS, Lecturer and Consultant, De- partment of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Usmanu Danfodio Univeristy Sokoto, Sokoto state Nigeria; 6 BSc, Assistant Director Laboratory Services, Department of Hae- matology, Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe, Gombe state Nigeria; 7 BSc, Institute of Child Health, College of Medicine University of Ibadan, Oyo state Nigeria; 8 MBBS, Lecturer and Consultant, Department of Medicine, Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe, Gombe state Nigeria; 9 MBBS, Professor and Consultant, Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, University College Hospital Ibadan, Oyo State Nigeria. Corresponding Author: Dr Mohammed M. Manga, Depart- ment of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Federal Teaching Hospital, Ashaka road, PMB 037, Gombe, Gombe State Nigeria; Email: mangamuhammad@yahoo.co.uk, drmmanga@gmail.com Received: 05 March 2016 Accepted: 14 April 2016 Published: 09 May 2016 blood donors were recruited at the hematology department of FtHG for a hospital based cross- sectional study and were screened/confirmed for HtLV I/II by ELIsA and western blot methods. results: seroprevalence of HtLV I/II among the 355 participants with mean age of 30.77 years (±8.27) was 6.5% on screening with ELIsA but confirmed to be 0% by western blot. Majority were males, 352 (99.2%) and mostly (45.9%) between 21–30 years of age. Donors for family replacements predominated (85.1%) with more than half (58.6%) being first time blood donors. conclusion: this study reveals the absence of HtLV I/II among blood donors in Gombe North- eastern Nigeria. It also highlights the possibility of false positivity in some of the reported prevalence of HtLV I and II from some parts of Nigeria that were based on screening tests only. the importance of confirmatory testing in all research works on HtLV (including HtLV 3 and HtLV 4) is further strengthened with this study. there is however the need for a larger study and the use of molecular diagnostics to reconfirm this assertion. Keywords: blood donors, Gombe, Human t cell lymphotropic virus I/II (HtLV I/II), Nigeria, t cell How to cite this article Manga MM, Fowotade A, Yuguda S, Iya GA, Yahaya M, Sheriff YM, Chukwuma OE, Yola IM, Bakare RA. Serosurvey of human T cell lymphotropic virus I/II among blood donors in Gombe (Nigeria). Int J Blood Transfus Immunohematol 2016;6:12–19. Article ID: 100024IJBTIMM2016 Original article Peer reviewed | OPen acceSS