AJTMH Tropical Medicine and Hygiene News
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 44(2), 1991, pp. 122-130
Copyright © 1991 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Yanagihara, R.
Right arrow Articles by Gajudusek, D. C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Yanagihara, R.
Right arrow Articles by Gajudusek, D. C.

Human T-Lymphotropic Virus Type I Infection in the Solomon Islands

Richard Yanagihara, Andrew B. Ajdukiewicz, Ralph M. Garruto, Elizabeth R. Sharlow, Xue-Yun Wu, Obed Alemaena, Horton Sale, Steve S. Alexander AND D. Carleton Gajudusek
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland; Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Central Hospital, Honiara, Solomon Islands; Cambridge Biotech Corp., Rockville, Maryland.

To ascertain the prevalence of human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) infection and the occurrence of diseases caused by HTLV-I in the Solomon Islands, we tested 1141 sera from 851 patients (317 females and 534 males), who were hospitalized at the Central Hospital in Honiara between February 1984 and November 1988, for antibodies to HTLV-I using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Sera from 69 of 81 ELISA-positive patients and from 56 ELISA-negative patients were then tested by Western analysis. As verified by strict Western immunoblot criteria, the overall HTLV-I seroprevalence was 2.2% (19/851). Age- and gender-specific prevalence data indicated an age-related acquisition of infection with no sexual predominance. No diagnosis category was over-represented among the seropositive patients. HTLV-I-specific antibodies were found in serum and cerebrospinal fluid samples from one of six patients with spastic paraparesis. As in other Melanesian populations, the majority of ELISA-positive sera could not be confirmed by Western analysis. Reactivity to three or more gag-encoded proteins was found in 85% (45/53) of ELISA-positive, Western blot-indeterminate sera, and 30% (16/53) reacted to p19 and an env gene product but lacked reactivity to p24. Whether or not the high frequency of indeterminate HTLV-I Western immunoblots in the Solomon Islands is indicative of incomplete specific reactivity to HTLV-I or the existence of antigenically related retroviruses is being investigated.






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 1991 by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.