HTLV-I associated uveitis in central Japan.
OBJECTIVE
Recently HTLV-I has been shown to cause a kind of endogenous uveitis in south west Japan, where HTLV-I infection is highly endemic. To investigate further the association of HTLV-I infection with the incidence of this uveitis, HTLV-I seroprevalence in central Japan, where HTLV-I infection is not endemic, was studied.


METHODS
HTLV-I seroprevalence was investigated in 1579 patients with various ocular diseases and 1251 normal volunteers as a younger control group. Then HTLV-I seroprevalence was compared in each group.


RESULTS
Of 1579 patients with various ocular diseases, 38 (2.41%) were seropositive. There was a statistically significant difference in HTLV-I seroprevalence between the undefined uveitis group and non-uveitic ocular diseases group (p < 0.05, Yates's correction). However, the seroprevalence in younger patients with undefined uveitis did not differ significantly from that in other groups. As regards the incidence of this type of uveitis, six of 12 (50%) seropositive patients, who were born in south west Japan and had lived in this area for 35 years, developed this undefined uveitis whereas only two of 26 (7.69%) seropositive patients in the other areas in Japan developed this uveitis. The difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05, Fisher's exact probability test).


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that the incidence of this type of endogenous uveitis could be greatly influenced by environmental or hereditary factors including HLA.
Goto
K
K
Division of Ophthalmology, Odawara Municipal Hospital, Japan.
Saeki
K
K
Kurita
M
M
Ohno
S
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001483:Base Sequence; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006679:HIV Seropositivity; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014605:Uveitis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000821:virology