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.
Division of Ophthalmology, Odawara Municipal Hospital, Japan.
K
K
Goto
K
K
Saeki
M
M
Kurita
S
S
Ohno
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