Epidemiology of HTLV-1 infection in Togo

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of Human T cell Leuka emia Virus Type 1 (HTLVI) in a representative population sample, in neurolo gical and non-neurological patients hospitalised in the Lome teaching hospi tal in order to study the clinical manifestations of this retrovirus. There was no statistical difference among the three groups concerning the preval ence of HTLV-1 respectively (1.2%: 21/1717, 1.8%: 15/828 and 1.6%: 4/244). Spastic paraparesis was the only disease significantly linked to HTLVI (15. 5% 9/58).