Twenty-five years of HTLV type II follow-up with a possible case of tropical spastic paraparesis in the Kayapo, a Brazilian Indian tribe. NLM AIDSLINE Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

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Twenty-five years of HTLV type II follow-up with a possible case of tropical spastic paraparesis in the Kayapo, a Brazilian Indian tribe.

AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 1996 Nov 20;12(17):1623-7. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE MED/97102925
Black FL; Biggar RJ; Lal RB; Gabbai AA; Filho JP; Department of Public Health, Yale University, School of Medicine, New; Haven, Connecticut 06520-8034, USA.

Abstract: A longitudinal study, spanning 25 years and great demographic and cultural change, found a persistently high prevalence of human T-lymphotropic virus type II (HTLV-II) in the Xikrin Kayapo Indians of Brazil. More than 10% of the children continue to develop immune reactions to the virus in infancy, a sharp increase in seroprevalence occurs between ages 15 and 30 years, and prevalence in older woman still approaches 100%. This suggests that the major modes of transmission (breast milk and sexual activity) have not changed. The demonstration of stable maintenance of HTLV-II in one ethnic group makes migration theories of its dispersal more plausible. However, the infection may not be a negligible burden on population survival: at least 1 of 62 persons followed until age 40 years died of possible tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP).
Keywords: *HTLV-II/ISOLATION & PURIF *HTLV-II Infections/PHYSIOPATHOLOGY *Indians, South American *Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic/PHYSIOPATHOLOGYKWDhtlv-ii/isolation&purifKWDhtlv-iiinfections/physiopathologyKWDindians,southamericanKWDparaparesis,tropicalspastic/physiopathology
970530
M9751907

Copyright © 1997 - National Library of Medicine. Reproduced under license with the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD.

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