Absence of HTLV-I infection among seronegative subjects in an endemic area of Japan.
To examine the prevalence of infection by human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) among seronegative subjects, healthy subjects on Tsushima Island, Japan, where the infection is endemic, were evaluated. A total of 209 healthy adults were examined for HTLV-I provirus in peripheral blood mononuclear cells by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), as well as for anti-HTLV-I antibodies by the particle agglutination (PA) method, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and by immunofluorescence analysis (IF). A total of 76 subjects were positive and 133 were negative for the provirus, showing a close correlation with the results of 3 assays for anti-HTLV-I serum antibodies. None of the seronegative subjects reacted positively on PCR analysis. These observations indicate that seronegative HTLV-I carriers are rare in an area of Japan in which this viral infection is endemic.
Kinoshita
T
T
Virology Division, National Cancer Center Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan.
Imamura
J
J
Nagai
H
H
Ito
M
M
Ito
S
S
Ikeda
S
S
Nagatomo
M
M
Tajima
K
K
Shimotohno
K
K
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001483:Base Sequence; D015480:Deltaretrovirus Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D006800:Deltaretrovirus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides / Q000737:chemistry; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012698:Serologic Tests
D015480:Deltaretrovirus Antibodies; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides