title: Seroprevalence of HTLV-1 in chronic disease patients in Jamaica.
abstract: A high seropositivity rate of human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) infection was found in Jamaican patients with chronic diseases. However, except for tropical spastic paraparesis, polymyositis, adult T cell leukaemia/lymphoma and polyneuropathies of undetermined cause, HTLV-1 seropositivity rates in chronic disease patients were not significantly different from that found in healthy Jamaicans. These results indicate that there is no increased risk of HTLV-1 infection or HTLV-1 associated disease in patients with chronic diseases compared to the general Jamaican population. The association of unclassified polyneuropathies with HTLV-1 reported herein is a novel one which requires further studies to elucidate its nature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica.
authors.forename: E N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Barton
authors.forename: O S
authors.initials: OS
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Smikle
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Blattner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007563:Jamaica / Q000453:epidemiology; D015458:Leukemia, T-Cell / Q000276:immunology; D016399:Lymphoma, T-Cell / Q000276:immunology; D015493:Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic / Q000276:immunology; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000276:immunology; D017285:Polymyositis / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies