Low prevalence of infection by HTLV-I in populations at risk for HIV in Djibouti.
In order to determine whether HTLV-I (a recently discovered retrovirus causing T-cell leukaemias and lymphomas, as well as tropical spastic paraparesis) was present in Djibouti in 1988, we investigated 576 subjects belonging to various groups at risk of acquiring HIV, a related retrovirus transmitted analogously to HTLV-I. Sera were screened by a commercial agglutination assay and confirmation of repeatedly reactive sera was performed by specific Western blot analysis. Four sera were strongly positive for HTLV-I by Western blotting, while one serum displayed equivocal reactivity. All positive sera came from young women who engaged in prostitution. This accounted for an HTLV-I seropositivity rate of 0.7% (95% CI, 0.03-1.4%) in the total study population and 1.2% (95% CI, 0.02-2.4%) in the population engaged in prostitution. We concluded that in Djibouti in June 1988, HTLV-I was present but that the prevalence of infection in high risk individuals was very low.
Fox
E
E
US Naval Medical Research Unit 3 (NAMRU-3), Cairo.
Constantine
N T
NT
Abbatte
E A
EA
Said-Salah
Rodier
G
G
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology; D000351:Africa, Eastern; D015153:Blotting, Western; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D012307:Risk Factors
D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies