HTLV-1 Infection in Papua New Guinea: Evidence for Serologic False Positivity

Abstract

Serum samples from 557 individuals participating in studies from four separate lowland and highland populations in Papua New Guinea exhibited consistently false-positive results for human T lymphotropic virus (HTLV) type 1 (10%) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 (5%) antibody in direct antiglobulin and agglutination assays. All serum samples were negative in competitive ELISAs and radioimmunoassays for HTLV-1 and HIV-1; selected samples of reactive sera were negative in an HTLV-2 competitive ELISA. Immunofluorescent antibody tests using HTLV-1 infected cells correlated poorly with ELISA results. None of the sera from Papua New Guinea neutralized vesicular stomatitis virus pseudotypes of HTLV-1. By Western blot analysis, only three serum samples were weakly reactive to HTLV-1 gag proteins. These studies suggest there is as yet no firm evidence of HTLV-1, HTLV-2, or HIV-1 infection in Papua New Guinea, although there may be a low prevalence.

A serosurvey for HTLV-I among high-risk populations and normal adults in Egypt

“…comm.)]. The false positivity rate for our screening test was 1-2 %, which is significantly lower than the 10% found in sera from Papua New Guinea [25]. One third of our repeatedly reactive samples were confirmed by western blot, which is in contrast to the 3 % confirmed in sera from Papua New Guinea [24].…”

Failure to isolate human T cell lymphotropic virus type I and to detect variant-specific genomic sequences by polymerase chain reaction in Melanesians with indeterminate Western immunoblot

“…Although infection with an HTLV-I variant was not excluded, the failure to verify screening test positivity by several confirmatory methods among inhabitants of Papua New Guinea led some investigators to conclude the existence of serological false positivity in Melanesia (Weber et al, 1989). Our data do not exclude the possibility of infection with a novel retrovirus, but they indicate that infection with cosmopolitan prototype or Melanesian variant strains of HTLV-I is not the cause of the indeterminate Western blot reactivity seen in Melanesia.…”

Antenatal survey for the seroprevalence of HTLV-1 infections in the West Midlands, England

“…Weber and colleagues [30] Indians confimins earlier reports although infection has been found in some UJKborn children of patients with TSP [13,14].…”

“…Sera positive by these three tests at the RVL were referred to the Virus Reference Laboratory (VRL) of the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS), London, where they were retested by PPAT and ELISA (Abbott) and in addition by a competitive radioimmunoassay (Compria [29]). an IgG antigen capture RIA (Gacria [29,30], Western blot (Dupont [29. 31]), and radioimmunoprecipitation assays (RIPA [31]). One indeterminate serum was retested by Western blot using reagents of Cambridge Biotech.…”