Endemic infection with human T cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type IIB in Argentinean and Paraguayan Indians: epidemiology and molecular characterization.
Human T cell leukemia/lymphoma virus (HTLV-II) type II infection was detected by polymerase chain reaction or serologic analyses (or both) in 22% of 697 Indians of six different ethnic back-grounds inhabiting the Argentinean and Paraguayan Gran Chaco. None was infected with HTLV-I. The prevalence of HTLV-II increased with age (14% in those < 13 years and 23% in those > or = 13 years). HTLV-II infection was found in all 20 Gran Chaco communities studied, but marked differences (44%-4%) in the rate of infection were observed even in communities separated by only a few miles. These variations correlated closely with ethnicity. In the high-incidence communities, infection clustered within families, with evidence for both sexual and perinatal transmission, primarily via breast-feeding. By contrast, only 2% of 94 Mapuche Indians from southern Argentina were positive for HTLV-II. Analyses of pol and long terminal repeat sequences from 15 Gran Chaco HTLV-II strains indicated that they constitute a highly conserved branch of the HTLV-IIB substrain.
Comparative Leukemia and Retrovirus Unit, New Bolton Center, University of Pennsylvania, Kennett Square, PA 19348, USA.
J F
JF
Ferrer
E
E
Esteban
S
S
Dube
M A
MA
Basombrio
A
A
Segovia
M
M
Peralta-Ramos
D K
DK
Dube
K
K
Sayre
N
N
Aguayo
J
J
Hengst
B J
BJ
Poiesz
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001118:Argentina / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D015491:HTLV-II Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission; D015367:Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007199:Indians, South American; D008297:Male; D010239:Paraguay / Q000453:epidemiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction