Vitek C R, Gracia F I, Giusti R, Fukuda K, Green D B, Castillo L C, Armien B, Khabbaz R F, Levine P H, Kaplan J E
Retrovirus Diseases Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30333.
J Infect Dis. 1995 Apr;171(4):1022-6. doi: 10.1093/infdis/171.4.1022.
Guaymi Indians, a non-intravenous drug-using population in which human T cell lymphotropic virus type II (HTLV-II) is endemic, were studied in Changuinola, Panama, to identify the prevalence and modes of transmission of HTLV-II. A population-based survey showed that 352 (9.5%) of the 3686 participants were seropositive for HTLV-II. Infection rates were the same for male and female subjects and increased significantly with age, beginning in young adulthood. HTLV-II infection status was highly concordant among spouses (P < .001) and between mother and child; of children aged 1-10 years, 36 of 219 born to seropositive mothers were seropositive compared with 3 of 997 born to seronegative mothers (P < .001). The strong associations of HTLV-II infection with age and with an infected spouse in adults and of infection in children with infection in their mothers strongly suggest sexual and mother-to-child transmission of HTLV-II in this population.
