ALTERED CELL-MEDIATED-IMMUNITY IN ASYMPTOMATIC COLOMBIAN NATIVES WITHPOSITIVE OR INDETERMINATE SEROLOGY FOR HTLV-I

Although HTLV-I infection has been associated with immunosuppression i n symptomatic patients, no controlled study has been done in asymptoma tic carriers. We evaluated delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) to seve n antigens by multitest cell-mediated immunity (CMI) in 40 Colombian I ndians, 10 HTLV-I-seropositive asymptomatic patients, and 30 matched c ontrols. Multitest CMI was placed in the forearm and was read 48 hours later by the same physician. A positive reaction was defined as great er than or equal to 2 mm. Hypoergic response was defined as <2 of 7 po sitive reactions per case or control. We found that HTLV-I-seropositiv e people had fewer positive reactions than matched controls (50% versu s 64%, respectively; p <.04) but no significant difference was found i n these populations in the evaluation of hypoergic responses. This stu dy suggests the presence in asymptomatic HTLV-I-positive Colombian Ind ians of a marginal alteration of cell-mediated immunity that cannot be classified as hypoergic.