A new HTLV type II subtype A isolate in an HIV type 1-infected prostitute from Cameroon, Central Africa

AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 1995 Aug;11(8):989-93. doi: 10.1089/aid.1995.11.989.

Abstract

Among 332 female sex workers in Douala, Cameroon, 113 were HIV-1 seropositive, 3 were HTLV-I seropositive, and only 1 had specific anti-HTLV-II antibodies. By cocultivation with BJAB cells, an HTLV-II was isolated from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of this 32-year-old woman coinfected by HIV-1. This new African HTLV-II isolate (PH230PCAM) belongs to the molecular subtype A, exhibiting, however, a nucleotide variability of 2.4% and 0.8%, vis-à-vis the MO prototype, in the LTR and in the gp21 env gene, respectively. These data, as well as the previous findings of another HTLV-II subtype A in a Ghanean prostitute, suggest that this viral subtype had been imported into Africa, while the HTLV-II subtype B, described in remote areas of Zaire, Gabon, and Cameroon, could be a genuine African HTLV-II, present in this continent for a long period of time.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Base Sequence
  • Cameroon
  • Female
  • HIV Infections / complications*
  • HIV-1 / isolation & purification*
  • HTLV-II Infections / complications
  • HTLV-II Infections / virology*
  • Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 / genetics
  • Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 / isolation & purification*
  • Humans
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Sex Work

Associated data

  • GENBANK/Z46837
  • GENBANK/Z46838