HUMAN T-LYMPHOTROPIC VIRUS TYPE-II (HTLV-II) INFECTION AMONG FEMALE PROSTITUTES IN YUCATAN, MEXICO

The antibodies to human T-lymphotropic virus type I/II (HTLV-I/II) wer e determined in non-intravenous drug-using female prostitutes from Mer ida Yucatan, Mexico. Serum specimens from 282 female prostitutes colle cted during 1990 were tested initially by enzyme immunoassay and furth er confirmed by western blot assays. Of these, 5 (1.8%, 95% confidence interval 0.2 to 3.3) were shown to be HTLV-I/II positive (reactivity to p24gag and gp68/r21e(env)). All five specimens were shown to be inf ected with HTLV-II by immunoassays using type-specific synthetic pepti des and recombinant proteins. Long-term cell lines developed from two individuals demonstrated active viral replication and were of CD8 phen otype. Polymerase chain reaction analysis from four of these five pros titutes demonstrated HTLV-II-specific amplification of all four specim ens, of which one was subtype a (HTLV-IIa) and three were subtype b (H TLV-IIb). These data show that HTLV-II is the predominant HTLV type am ong female prostitutes from the Yucatan.