I have been doing research and I know that HTLV is relatively rare where I live (the US), but my partner recently came home from a military deployment to the Middle East and I know it is more common there. I do not think he has been unfaithful at all, but I know he received some medical treatments there and I know the virus can be spread through contaminated blood/needles. If neither of us has symptoms, should we get tested for it? Is it really worth knowing since most cases of HTLV do not cause serious health problems (I also read that even if you test positive for HTLV-1/2 antibodies, only a small percentage of people actually develop serious health problems from it). I never know how reliable information from the Internet truly is, so I wanted to ask more about this specifically. Thanks for your help!

Welcome to the Forum.  you've clearly looked into this issue carefully.  I hope that I can help to assure you that there is no meaningful reason for concern regarding your partner and the possibility that he might have been exposed to HTLV-1 or some other blood borne infection during his deployment.  Any medical treatment that he might have received while deployed would have been provided by US military personnel and would have used supplies provided within the military.  Further, there are no reports of persons infected through the sorts medical treatments provided in the field.  Finally, military personnel are regularly tested in the context of their service.---

Okay, thank you. I do have a friend who recently found out she has HTLV (confirmatory test and all) and she thinks she got it from her partner. She lives in another country but I still worry for her. What are her chances of developing complications because of it? Can some people live their whole lives without symptoms or complications?

Neither Dr. Handsfield, whom you recently interacted with, nor I are experts in HTLV infections.  I am not in a position to comment on your friend's situation or her her prognosis,  Certainly there are some people who live with HTLV infections without problems.  I would suggest that she speak with her own doctors about these questions.  EWH---