Delaporte E, Laga M, Nzila N, Goeman J, Heyward W, St-Louis M, Piot P; International Conference on AIDS.
Int Conf AIDS. 1992 Jul 19-24; 8: C309 (abstract no. PoC 4389).
Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.
OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalences and risk factors for HTLV I/II infections in women at high and low risk for STDs and HIV in Zaire. METHODS: Blood samples from two cross-sectional surveys on STDs and HIV and associated risk factors among 1161 prostitutes and 1157 pregnant women from Kinshasa, Zaire were tested for HTLV I/II. Data on age, region of origin, sexual behaviour as well as the results of HIV and syphilis serology were available. Detection of antibodies to HTLV-I/II was done by ELISA and Western blot (Ortho diagnostics). Criteria for positivity were the presence of antibodies to gag and env gene products. RESULTS: In prostitutes, the prevalence rate of anti-HTLV-I/II was 7.3% (95% CI: +/- 1.1). By region of origin the rate ranged from 1.6% in Kesal up to 9.2% in Equateur and 16.9% in Haut-Zaire (p less than 0.001). HTLV-I/II positive prostitutes were older then HTLV-I/II negative (mean yr 29.8 (+/- 6.3)/25.5 (+/- 6.6), p less than 0.02). TPHA positivity was associated with HTLV-I/II (57% versus 25.6% in HTLV+ and - respectively; p less than 0.001) but HIV infection was not associated with HTLV-I/II (43.5% versus 34.8%, p = 0.8 NS). Duration of prostitution and number of clients/day were not associated with HTLV-I/II. In pregnant women the HTLV-I/II prevalence was 3.7% (95% CI: +/- 1.1). HTLV-I/II positive women (mean 26.3 (+/- 6.1)) were slightly older than the HTLV negatives (mean 25.5 (+/- 6.1); p = 0.5). TPHA positivity (4.7% versus 3.0%) and HIV infection (0% versus 2.4%) were not associated with HTLV-I/II positivity. Region of origin was only known for 355 pregnant women from Bandundu and Bas-Zaire and in these regions HTLV-I/II rates were not significantly different between prostitutes (17/415; 4.1%) and pregnant women (14/355; 3.9%). CONCLUSION: In Zairean prostitutes as in other Central African populations the main variables associated with HTLV-I/II were region of origin and older age. The only marker of sexual activity associated with HTLV-I positivity was a TPHA+. When comparing prostitutes and pregnant women of the same age and same region of origin, no difference in rates of HTLV-I/II infection could be shown.
Publication Types:
Keywords:
- Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
- Blotting, Western
- Communicable Diseases
- Cross-Sectional Studies
- Deltaretrovirus
- Deltaretrovirus Antibodies
- Deltaretrovirus Antigens
- Deltaretrovirus Infections
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Female
- HIV
- HIV Infections
- HIV Seropositivity
- HTLV-I Infections
- Human T-lymphotropic virus 1
- Humans
- Pregnancy
- Prevalence
- Prostitution
- Risk Factors
- Sexual Behavior
- Sexually Transmitted Diseases
- immunology
Other ID:
UI: 102199813
From Meeting Abstracts