Browsing by Author "Blattner, W.A."
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Item Type-I HTLV antibody in urban and rural Ghana, West Africa.(International Journal of Cancer, 1984) Biggar, R.J.; Saxinger, C.; Gardiner, C.; Collins, W.E.; Levine, P.H.; Clark, J.W.; Nkrumah, F.K.; Blattner, W.A.The prevalence of antibodies against the newly described human T-cell lymphoma virus, type I (HTLV-I) in two communities in Ghana, West Africa, is described. There was no difference by community (urban, 3.6% and rural, 4.0%). Prevalence increased with age, being 5.9% among persons greater than 10 years old, but did not differ by sex. There was no difference when data were analysed by housing status or crowding. Non-confirmed reactions in the assay system were frequent and correlated with both prevalence and titer of antibody against malaria. Possible explanations include vector-borne transmission like that of malaria, but the relationship is more probably due to a polyclonal stimulation of B cells, enhancing the potential for detecting reactivity in the assay. Because assay systems vary and because most laboratories do not routinely use a confirmation assay, results presented by different groups must be interpreted cautiously.