Tropical spastic paraparesis / HTLV-associated myelopathy (TSP/HAM). Case reports in Colombian pacific coast

Hospital-ship San Raffael of the Italian-Colombian Foundation of Monte Tabor develops a social and humanitarian function in the departments of Colombian pacific coast under the support of the Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud of University del Cauca. In two medical missions (March-2011 and February-2012) in Salahonda, a little town in the department of Nariño, three patients were evaluated because a spastic paraparesis manifested as a chronic and progressive myelopathy. The analysis was positive for HTLV-I and II retroviruses (third generation ELISA test) in the Laboratory of Immunology at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Cauca, so the diagnosis of definitive Tropical Spastic Paraparesis/HTLV Associated Myelopathy (TSP/HAM) was made. A call is made to the universities and their schools of Medicine as well as to the Public Health authorities in the departments with coasts on the pacific ocean to look again into the investigations and advance in the studies of these cases not only in the Pacific littoral, but also in the Andes regions of Colombia.