Prevalence of human T-cell leukemia virus antibody among heterosexuals living in Amsterdam, The Netherlands

To determine the heterosexual spread of human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV-I) infections, a cohort of 472 individuals with more than 5 heterosexual partners in the 6 months before entry was studied. They were recruited from visitors to the Clinic for Sexually Transmitted Diseases of the Municipal Health Service. Half of the study group was born in the Netherlands, 13% in Surinam or the Dutch Antilles, and 8% in Turkey or Morocco. Seventy percent were involved in commercial sex. Three persons were positive for HTLV-I, with serum antibodies against p19, p24, p28, gp46, and gp61 in Western immunoblot (WIB) and radio-immunoprecipitation assay (RIPA). Two of them originated from Surinam and the third was a Dutch woman. Two other individuals were HIV-positive, 19% had hepatitis B virus (HBV)-markers and 6% Treponema pallidum reacted in the hemagglutination assay (TPHA). It is concluded that HTLV-I circulates in the Surinamese population in Amsterdam and there was no evidence of appreciable heterosexual transmission.