Sexual transmission of simian T-lymphotropic virus type I: a model of human T-lymphotropic virus type I infection.
Simian T-lymphotropic virus type-I (STLV-I) seronegative females placed together with seropositive males for breeding purposes were followed from 1984-1990 to determined seroconversion rates by enzyme immunoassay and western immunoblot analysis. Two of 26 females and 1 of 4 males previously negative for antibodies to STLV-I seroconverted during the study period. Statistical analysis of sexual encounters indicated that the probability of a seronegative female testing positive for STLV-I after a sexual encounter with a seropositive male is less than 4%. These data indicate that even though sexual contact is important in the transmission of STLV-I, it may not be an efficient mode of viral infection. These data also suggest that female-to-male transmission of STLV-I occurs, as recently reported for human T-lymphotropic virus type-I (HTLV-I) infection. These results are important because HTLV-I and STLV-I share many features in common including routes of viral transmission. In addition, the difficulty of clearly quantitating the risk of sexual transmission in humans makes the primate animal model a valuable alternative to study the human infection.
Lazo
A
A
Department of Veterinary Anatomy and Cellular Biology, Ohio State University, Columbus 43210.
Bailer
R T
RT
Lairmore
M D
MD
Yee
J A
JA
Andrews
J
J
Stevens
V C
VC
Blakeslee
J R
JR
D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D006800:Deltaretrovirus Infections / Q000635:transmission*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010215:Papio; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal; D015303:Simian T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000276:immunology
D000914:Antibodies, Viral