Highly endemic human T-lymphotropic virus type II (HTLV-II) infection in a Venezuelan Guahibo Amerindian group.
Sera from 166 Guahibo Indians (55% of the population) living in southwest Venezuela were screened by enzyme-linked immunoassay for antibodies to human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) I and II. Positive samples were confirmed by immunofluorescence and Western blot. Forty-one Guahibos (24.8%) were found to be seropositive. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of proviral DNA in mononuclear cell lysates revealed the virus to be HTLV-II. Prevalence increased with age, and sexual contact with HTLV-II-seropositive partners was identified as a risk factor for infection. PCR amplification of a region of the pol gene, utilizing the primer pair SK110/SK111, with subsequent digestion of the 140-base-pair amplification products with HinfI and MseI restriction enzymes, showed an HTLV-II subtype-b restriction pattern in all cases. These data suggest that the substrain infecting this Guahibo community belongs to the b subtype, the most frequent among Paleo-Amerindian populations.
Institute of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Central University of Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela.
M
M
Leon-Ponte
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Noya
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N
Bianco
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G
Echeverría de Perez
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D015751:Genes, pol; D015491:HTLV-II Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000276:immunology; D015367:Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007199:Indians, South American; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D014687:Venezuela / Q000453:epidemiology
D004279:DNA, Viral