Evaluation of human T cell lymphotropic virus infection in a cohort of injecting drug users.
The diagnosis and confirmation of human T cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) type II infection has proven difficult, since most assays depend on antigenic cross-reactivity between HTLV-I antigens and HTLV-II antibodies. Type-specific HTLV infection rates were evaluated in a cohort of 233 injecting drug users screened with an HTLV EIA. Of the 52 EIA-reactive specimens, 48 were indeterminate or negative by standard Western blot. Type-specific HTLV results determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were 0, HTLV-I; 92%, HTLV-II; 6%, type indeterminate; and 2%, negative. Among 42 EIA-reactive, HTLV-II-PCR-positive individuals tested by a p21 envr Western blot, all were positive and 74% had antibodies to the tax protein. This study found a high rate (22.3%) of HTLV reactivity, with HTLV-II usually the sole responsible agent; shortcomings in standard HTLV-I-based diagnostics but usefulness of PCR and p21 envr Western blots for typing and confirmation of HTLV reactivity; and a high prevalence (74%) of anti-tax antibody among HTLV-II-seropositive subjects, suggesting increased potential for infectivity.
Palumbo
P E
PE
Department of Pediatrics, University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School, Newark 07107.
Weiss
S H
SH
McCreedy
B J
BJ
Alexander
S S
SS
Denny
T N
TN
Klein
C W
CW
Altman
R
R
D015331:Cohort Studies; D015491:HTLV-II Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D009515:New Jersey; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000150:complications*