HUMAN T-LYMPHOTROPIC VIRUS TYPE-I ASSOCIATED MYELOPATHY AND MYASTHENIA-GRAVIS - A POSSIBLE ASSOCIATION

We report the first known patient with human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) associated myelopathy (HAM) and myasthenia gravis (MG). A 50-year-old woman developed fluctuating muscle weakness with easy fati gability, transient bilateral blepharoptosis and double vision. Spasti c paraparesis complicated these symptoms. Neurological assessments and specific laboratory findings revealed that the patient had definite H AM and MG. By inference from descreasing serum anti-HTLV-I antibody ti ters after thymectomy, the presence of antigenicity for HTLV-I in the thymic reticular cells, and a high incidence of various coexistent aut oimmune diseases in HAM or MG, we suggested the possibility that these two diseases were associated with each other and with HTLV-I infectio n.