title: HTLV-2B strains, similar to those found in several Amerindian tribes, are endemic in central African Bakola Pygmies.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The presence and origin of endemic foci of human T-lymphotropic virus type 2 (HTLV2) infection in Africa remain a matter of debate.
  
  
  METHODS
  To better appreciate such determinants, we performed a survey of 1918 inhabitants from Cameroon forest areas, including 1051 Bakola Pygmies and 867 Bantus.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall HTLV-1/2 seroprevalence was 4% (49 cases of HTLV-1 and 27 cases of HTLV-2 infection). Both infections were mainly restricted to the Bakola Pygmies, with surprisingly no HTLV-2 infections in the Bantu population. Both HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 seroprevalences increased with age. There was evidence of ongoing HTLV-2 transmission in this population. Lymphoid T cell lines producing HTLV-2 were established. HTLV-2 long terminal repeat sequences (672 base pairs) obtained from 7 infected Bakola were highly similar to each other (<1% nucleotide divergence), as well as to Amerindian HTLV-2B strains. Analyses on a complete sequence (8954 base pairs) confirmed that it was a typical HTLV-2 subtype B strain. Along with molecular clock analysis, these data strongly suggest that HTLV-2 has been endemic in the Bakola Pygmy population for a long time.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrates clearly an HTLV-2 endemicity with ongoing transmission in an African population. Furthermore, it give insights into central questions regarding the origins and evolution rate of HTLV-2 and the migrations of infected populations.
authors: Unité d'Epidémiologie et Physiopathologie des Virus Oncogènes, Institut National de la Santéet de la Recherche Médicale, Paris, France.
authors: Philippe
authors: P
authors: Mauclère
authors: Philippe Vicente
authors: PV
authors: Afonso
authors: Laurent
authors: L
authors: Meertens
authors: Sabine
authors: S
authors: Plancoulaine
authors: Sara
authors: S
authors: Calattini
authors: Alain
authors: A
authors: Froment
authors: Monique
authors: M
authors: Van Beveren
authors: Guy
authors: G
authors: de Thé
authors: Lluis
authors: L
authors: Quintana-Murci
authors: Renaud
authors: R
authors: Mahieux
authors: Antoine
authors: A
authors: Gessain
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002163:Cameroon / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D019353:Endemic Diseases; D005260:Female; D015491:HTLV-II Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015367:Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D044382:Population Groups; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D020079:Terminal Repeat Sequences; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral