Seroprevalence of HTLV-I/II in blood donors in Monterrey, Mexico.

The prevalence of antibodies against human T-cell lymphotrophic virus (HTLV-I/II) in blood donors from the city of Monterrey, Mexico was investigated. We found that 4 out of 1017 sera (0.39%) reacted against HTLV-I/II, as determined by a passive agglutination test (PA). However, none of PA-positive sera reacted to HTLV-I/II specific polypeptides as demonstrated by Western blot. These findings indicate that the population of Monterrey has very low or no seroprevalence for HTLV-I/II.