Tropical spastic paraparesis - An old disease with a new name

Tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP), a progressive myelopathy predominantly affecting the lower limbs, is currently synonymous with human T-lymphotropi c virus type I (HTLV-I)-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP), At the turn of the 20th century, Drs Henry Strachan and Henry Sc ott provided the first clinical descriptions of persons with syndromes rese mbling HAM/TSP. As H-TLV-I was not detected until 1980,(1) these historical references likely included persons who did not have HAM/TSP, In the mid-19 80s, the association of HTLV-I with the neurologic syndrome HAM/TSP was rep orted concurrently in patients from the Caribbean islands, Colombia, Japan, and the Seychelles.(2-5) Using the original quotations from the seminal ar ticles, this article traces the initial reports of this syndrome, the disco ver) of the infectious cause, and the development of the clinical definitio n of the syndrome.