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.
Documents
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:
- Health clearance for HTLV-1 through occupational health services for exposure-prone procedure (EPP) performing HCWs should not be introduced at this time.
- UKAP does not currently advise any restriction from EPP practice for HCWs with a known HTLV-1 infection.
- UKAP does not currently recommend routine occupational health monitoring of HCWs infected with HTLV-1.
- 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.
- Further training of HCWs and research are recommended.
Published 21 December 2022