A POPULATION-BASED EPIDEMIOLOGIC-STUDY OF HUMAN T-CELL LEUKEMIA-VIRUSTYPE-I INFECTION IN KIN-HU, KINMEN

Kinmen is a group of small islands located between Taiwan and Fu-Kien Province of mainland China. The general population in Kinmen are desce ndants of immigrants from mainland China who began arriving around 317 A.D. Since it has been reported that 0.48% of adults in Taiwan have H TLV-I infection, the decision was made to conduct a community based ep idemiological study in Kinmen to understand the origin and disseminati on of HTLV-I in north-east Asia. Over 68% of residents of Kin-Hu towns hip in Kinmen over 30 years of age participated in this study. Eight o f 1,425 males and 14 of 1,595 females had HTLV-I infection. Antibody r eactivities were further tested by Western blot assays with HTLV-I or HTLV-II type-specific recombinant envelope glycoproteins, and it was d etermined that all of those infected had HTLV-I and none had HTLV-II. Logistic regression was used for multivariate analysis. The final mode l indicated that the significant factors associated with HTLV-I infect ion in Kinmen were age and coastal residency. Age was positively corre lated with HTLV-I infection. The eastern coastal area had a rate of HT LV-I infection 3.1 times higher than other areas in Kin-Flu. Further g enetic analysis in Kinmen is needed to elucidate a relationship with o ther HTLV-I isolates in the world. (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.