title: High rate of HTLV-II infection in seropositive i.v. drug abusers in New Orleans.
abstract: Confirmed infection with HTLV-II (human T cell leukemia virus type II) has been described only in rare cases. The major limitation to serological diagnosis of HTLV-II has been the difficulty of distinguishing HTLV-II from HTLV-I (human T cell leukemia virus type I) infection, because of substantial cross-reactivity between the viruses. A sensitive modification of the polymerase chain reaction method was used to provide unambiguous molecular evidence that a significant proportion of intravenous drug abusers are infected with HTLV, and the majority of these individuals are infected with HTLV-II rather than HTLV-I. Of 23 individuals confirmed by polymerase chain reaction analysis to be infected with HTLV, 21 were identified to be infected with HTLV-II, and 2 were infected with HTLV-I. Molecular identification of an HTLV-II--infected population provides an opportunity to investigate the pathogenicity of HTLV-II in humans.
authors.affiliation: Diagnostics Division, Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, IL 60064.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Swanson
authors.forename: V S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Shorty
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Zack
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Rosenblatt
authors.forename: I S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase; D005814:Genes, Viral; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D015482:HTLV-II Antibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D015491:HTLV-II Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D015367:Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008145:Louisiana; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies; D015482:HTLV-II Antibodies; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase