Detection of HTLV-I and HTLV-II infection in Africans using type-specific envelope peptides.

Abstract

Antibodies to HTLV were determined in 4,630 black African individuals from Zaire, Ghana and South Africa; 185 (4%) were confirmed as seropositive. Seroprevalance was 0.2% in a group of South African women, 0.9% among Ghanaian refugees in Belgium and from less than 1% to over 15% in various sites and populations in Zaire. With the use of HTLV-I and HTLV-II type-specific envelope peptides, 93% of confirmed HTLV seropositives were classified as HTLV-I. Five persons from the Haut Zaire region had HTLV-II serological reactivities, suggesting the presence of HTLV-II or a related retrovirus in central Africa. A cluster of HTLV-I-like indeterminate western blot patterns lacking anti-p24 antibody was found in Bas Zaire.

• Authors: P Goubau, J Desmyter, P Swanson, M Reynders, J Shih, I Surmont, K Kazadi, H Lee
• Journal: Journal of medical virology (J Med Virol) Vol. 39 Issue 1 Pg. 28-32 (Jan 1993) ISSN: 0146-6615 [Print] United States
• PMID: 8093712 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Deltaretrovirus Antibodies
• Deltaretrovirus Antigens
• Gene Products, env
• Retroviridae Proteins, Oncogenic
• Viral Envelope Proteins
• env Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
• gp46 protein, Human T-cell leukemia virus type I
• gp46 protein, Human immunodeficiency virus 2

Topics

• Belgium (epidemiology)
• Blotting, Western
• Deltaretrovirus Antibodies (blood, immunology)
• Deltaretrovirus Antigens (analysis, immunology)
• Democratic Republic of the Congo (epidemiology)
• Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
• False Positive Reactions
• Female
• Gene Products, env (immunology)
• Ghana (epidemiology, ethnology)
• HTLV-I Infections (diagnosis, epidemiology, immunology)
• HTLV-II Infections (diagnosis, epidemiology, immunology)
• Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 (immunology)
• Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 (immunology)
• Humans
• Immunoblotting
• Pregnancy
• Pregnancy Complications, Infectious (blood, diagnosis, immunology)
• Retroviridae Proteins, Oncogenic (immunology)
• Sensitivity and Specificity
• Seroepidemiologic Studies
• South Africa (epidemiology)
• Viral Envelope Proteins (immunology)
• env Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus