The epidemiology of HTLV-I and HTLV-III associated diseases in Trinidad and Tobago - abstract
Bartholomew, Courtney F; Charles, Waveney P; Hull, Barbara P; Blattner, William A; Saxinger, Carl W; Cleghorn, Farley R; Gallo, Robert C.
West Indian med. j
; 35(Suppl): 37, Apr. 1986.
Article
in English
| MedCarib | ID: med-5945
Clinical studies in Trinidad and Tobago have shown that, between May 1982 and June 1985, 24 cases of adult T-cell lymphoma/leukemia (ATL) were seen at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. The clinical features were very similar to those reported from Japan and Jamaica. The male/female ratio was 14/10. A random survey of antibodies to HTLV-I (Elissa assay) was carried out in Trinidad and Tobago in people aged 20 years and over. In Trinidad, of 1,578 people sampled, 51 (3.3 percent) were positive. Forty-one out of 794 Trinidadians of African descent were positive (5.1 percent) while only 3 of 448 Trinidadians of Indian descent were positive (0.7 percent). In Tobago, 18 out of 151 Tobagonians were antibody positive (12.0 percent). All were Tobagonians of African descent. There were no Tobagonians of Indian descent in this survey. The first case of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was diagnosed in Trinidad in February 1983, and, up to November 1985, 50 cases of this disease have been diagnosed at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. A random survey of antibodies to HTLV-III in the general population of Trinidad showed that out of 1,578 Trinidadians studied only 6 (0.4 percent) were antibody positive. Of 151 Tobagonians, 3 were positive (1.5 percent). All positive results were confirmed by Western blotting. On the other hand, in a survey of 105 healthy homosexuals in Trinidad, 40 percent were shown to be positive for HTLV-III antibodies. Thirty-six of 81 homosexuals of African origin were antibody positive (44.4 percent) while 6 out of 16 homosexuals of Indian descent were positive (37.5 percent). All the clinical cases of ATL occurred in Trinidadians of African descent and apart from one child aged 18 months of Asian descent, all the patients with AIDS were people of African origin. These epidemiological findings suggest that a genetic factor may be proved necessary for the development of HTLV-associated diseases in Trinidad and Tobago (AU)
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