title: Epidemiology of human T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma virus type 1 (HTLV-1) infections in a subpopulation of Afro-Caribbean origin in England.
abstract: Epidemiological studies on neurological diseases in residents of Afro-Caribbean origin in the West Midlands region of England have identified eight patients with tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP), all of whom were found to be infected with human T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma virus type 1 (HTLV-1). The husband of one of the patients with TSP was also infected with HTLV-1 and had a T-cell lymphoma. In addition, six asymptomatic HTLV-1-infected first-degree relatives of the TSP patients have been found. By anonymous testing of over 700 sera obtained from individuals of Afro-Caribbean, African, or Asian ethnic origin, seven HTLV-1-infected individuals were detected, who were all immigrants from the Caribbean. Overall, these numbers yielded a seroprevalence of HTLV-1 infections of 3.4% among the immigrant population of Afro-Caribbean origin, which is comparable with the prevalence of HTLV-1 in Jamaica in an equivalent age and sex cohort. Sera were tested for HTLV-1 antibody by means of three different procedures: passive particle agglutination test (Serodia), indirect enzyme-labeled immunosorbent assay (ELISA; Dupont), and indirect immunofluorescence test (in-house, using HTLV-1-infected MT2 cells). The results of all three tests correlated very well with each other. HTLV-1 antibody titres in TSP patients were on the whole significantly higher than those of asymptomatic carriers, but some of the apparently healthy first-degree relatives and one anonymously tested individual had titres as high as most of the TSP patients.
authors.affiliation: Regional Virus Laboratory, East Birmingham Hospital, England.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mowbray
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mawson
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chawira
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Skidmore
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Boxall
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Desselberger
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nightingale
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D000368:Aged; D044383:Black People; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007563:Jamaica / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015493:Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic / Q000453:epidemiology; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies