TROPICAL SPASTIC PARAPARESIS ON THE CARIBBEAN COAST OF COLOMBIA

Tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP) is a retroviral disease characteriz ed predominantly by a chronic myelopathy and progressive leg weakness. Four patients from the northern coast of Colombia with chronic spasti c paraparesis and serum positivity for antibodies to human T cell lymp hotropic virus type 1 by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blot are reported. All patients had mixed ethnic origins (white, blac k, and amerindian). This is the first report of TSP on the Caribbean c oast of Colombia. This study extends the geographic boundaries of TSP in the Caribbean basin.