Detection of human T lymphotropic virus type II/b in human immunodeficiency virus type 1-coinfected persons in southeastern Italy.
A preliminary screening of 511 persons at risk for AIDS living in southeastern Italy disclosed 20 cases of seroreactivity to human T lymphotropic viruses (HTLV). To verify and type the HTLV infection among these subjects, confirmatory serologic tests, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and virus culture were done. No evidence of HTLV-I infection was found. HTLV-II infection was confirmed in 8 cases by HTLV-specific, synthetic peptide EIAs and PCR on uncultured cells; restriction analysis of the PCR-amplified env regions revealed the presence of HTLV-II/b strains in all 8 cases. Four sera were nontypeable by EIA. The finding of such indeterminate reactivities in a geographic area in which HTLV variants were previously described indicates the need for more extensive surveys among the healthy population. HTLV-II was isolated in 5 cases, and virus isolation was mostly dependent on the presence of an actively replicating human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in culture.
Calabró
M L
ML
Institute of Oncology, University of Padua, Italy.
Luparello
M
M
Grottola
A
A
Del Mistro
A
A
Fiore
J R
JR
Angarano
G
G
Chieco-Bianchi
L
L
D001483:Base Sequence; D015752:Genes, env; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000150:complications*; D015497:HIV-1; D015491:HTLV-II Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics; D015367:Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 / Q000254:growth & development; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D012307:Risk Factors; D012703:Serotyping; D014779:Virus Replication