Is tropical spastic paraparesis in West Indian-Born U.K. migrants caused by HTLV-I? - abstract

ABSTRACT

Of 13 patients of West Indian origin residing in the UK with paraparesis of unknown cause, all had serum antibody to human T-Cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I). Their magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were normal or showed only minor abnormalities in the brain, and the spinal cord was normal in 5 that were imaged. This is in marked contrast to the MRI scans in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). None of 50 patients with MS had antibody to HTLV-I in the blood (AU)