STLV-I antibodies in feral populations of East African vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops).

Serum samples from feral populations of African green monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) were screened for antibodies to the simian T-lymphotropic virus, type I (STLV-I). Blood samples had been collected from 336 monkeys in 4 regions of central and southern Kenya in 1978 and 1979, from 114 monkeys in central Ethiopia in 1973, and from 85 monkeys from the Kampala region of Uganda in 1966. A total of 178/535 monkeys (33%) were seropositive (STLV-I+). Only 4/114 monkeys (4%) from Ethiopia were seropositive compared to 25/85 Ugandan monkeys (29%) and 149/336 Kenyan monkeys (44%). Epidemiological analysis of the Kenyan monkeys showed that 37% of the males and 54% of the females were STLV-I+, and that there was a progressive increase in the proportion of STLV-I+ monkeys of both sexes with age, rising from an average of 16% in infants (less than 9 months) to an average of 69% in adults (greater than 42 months). The proportion of STLV-I+ monkeys was higher among females in each age category. Seropositivity for antibodies to STLV-I had no apparent effect on the health of monkeys, and no association with the occurrence of Hepatocystis parasitemia was seen in this species. The analysis of data from infants of STLV-I+ mothers showed that seroconversion had occurred in 1 of 3 cases, suggesting that vertical transmission of the STLV-I virus is not an inevitable consequence for infants of seropositive mothers.