Bronchiectasis caused by HTLV-1?
Posted , 5 users are following.
i posted about this last night but the moderator is holding up that post, probably because i included the link to a 2018 CNN Medicine article.
There's something called HTLV-1, prevalent in certain spots around the globe. These include parts of Australia, SW Japan, and parts of the Caribbean. It is an STI, transmitted mainly by sex, breastfeeding, or blood contact, and it can cause, ta da! Bronchiectasis. Anybody else heard of this?
I find it fascinating that Americans who served in Vietnam tended to take their long breaks either in Japan or Australia. Himself served in Vietnam but never took any long breaks, i think, but he spent the 5 years before he met me in the Carib. My dad definitely spent time in SW Japan in WWII.
i haven't found much on this yet. Anyone else heard of this?
0 likes, 4 replies
susan63174 aitarg35939
Posted
sorry. thats a new one on me. mine was caused by mercury poisoning from the mercury in teething powders when i was 6 months old. the mercury poisoning caused Pink Disease which attacked the muscles in my body including the lung muscles. funnily enough more prevalent in Australia than England. the Australian Lung Foundation know all about Pink Disease but the English Lung Foundation have no knowledge. Maybe the Australian Lung Foundation have information on HTLV-1 also.
aitarg35939 susan63174
Posted
I'm sorry to hear about the Pink Disease, Susan. i'd never heard of that, either, until now tho it turns out that some Americans got it from teething powders sold here in the '40s. Apparently it was only in some teething powders rather than in all brands.
Since i posted this I've found more info on HTLV-1 and think that if i was exposed it would have to be via Himself, through his life in the Caribbean. I'll wait and see if my lung doc thinks that there would be any point in knowing if i had this.
Ironically, i've been sick ALL this year due to another environmental exposure: 2.5 hours in a friend's brand new house with 80% brand new furniture. The chemical off-gases could not be escaped but i couldn't smell them so i didn't recognize the danger. Am beginning to accept that my lungs are not going to get back to where they were on the morning of Dec 22 2018 before i set foot in that house, and they weren't great then.
susan63174 aitarg35939
Posted
Pink Disease is very unusual as it affects different sufferers differently although approximately 75% do end up with bronchiectasis. A sufferer in Australia I'm in contact with suffers with her skin peeling off in copious amounts but her lungs havent been affected.
its unbelievable the amount of things that cause us problems. I've never heard of chemical gas off new furniture as well as HTLV-1. I attend a Bronchiectasis Unit at my local hospital and they are now wondering if food is causing my worsening lung condition so I'm now having to take a tablet first thing before I eat anything, then take a different tablet each time I have a meal. Crazy!
I wish you well and hope you do start seeing an improvement very soon.
aitarg35939 susan63174
Posted
it's entirely possible that furniture & new houses are built with safer components than the schlock we turn out in the States, lol, which may be why you've not heard of off-gases.
The food question sounds awful. hope they can resolve it for you.