title: Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I and II DNA amplification in seropositive and seronegative at-risk individuals.
abstract: To determine the presence or the absence of human T-lymphotropic virus type I and/or II (HTLV-I/II) DNA in at-risk individuals who were persistently negative for specific serologic assays, polymerase chain reaction with two primer pairs in common and conserved regions of HTLV-I and -II genomes was used. Seronegative individuals at risk for HTLV-I/II infection (15 heterosexual partners of seropositive individuals, 17 breastfed children born to HTLV-I-infected mothers, 47 multiply transfused patients, 22 intravenous drug users) were studied (n = 101); 35 seropositive individuals and 25 seronegative low-risk individuals were used as positive and negative controls, respectively. No positive polymerase chain reaction was observed in the seronegative at-risk individuals or in the negative controls. Positive controls gave positive results with at least one primer pair in all cases except one. A latent HTLV-I/II infection with a persistently negative serologic test for HTLV-I/II seems unlikely.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Laboratory, National Institute of Blood Transfusion, Hospital Saint-Antoine, Paris, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de Montalembert
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wattel
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lefrère
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mariotti
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Agis
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferrer-le-Coeur
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Girot
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Lefrère
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001483:Base Sequence; D002648:Child; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005784:Gene Amplification; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology*; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000235:genetics*; D015367:Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral