TY - JOUR
T1 - Declining seroprevalence and transmission of HTLV-I in Japanese families who immigrated to Hawaii
AU - Ho, Gloria Y.F.
AU - Nomura, Abraham M.Y.
AU - Nelson, Kenrad
AU - Lee, Helen
AU - Polk, B. Frank
AU - Blattner, William A.
N1 - Funding Information:
Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Room 1312, Bronx, NY 10461 Supported in part by contract N01 CP-EB-51023-21 and grant R01-CA-33644 from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD.
PY - 1991/11/1
Y1 - 1991/11/1
N2 - This study examined the seroprevalence and transmission of human T cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) in Japanese families who originated in Okinawa, an area in which HTLV-I is endemic, and who were currently residing in Hawaii, a nonendemic area. Among a cohort of Japanese men whose sera were collected in Hawaii in 1967-1975, those of Okinawan ancestry had an HTLV-I seroprevalence of 11.4%. This study, conducted in 1987-1988, sampled 142 index subjects from this male cohort and tested them along with their wives, children, and spouses of the children for HTLV-I antibodies. SeropositMty in their wives was 11.4% and 41.2% among the seronegative and seropositive index subjects, respectively; seropositivity also increased from 29.4% to 35.3% to 58.8% with the husbands' increasing antibody levels by tertiles. Elevated antibody levels may be a marker for infectivity, which is associated with more efficient sexual transmission of HTLV-I. The age-adjusted odds ratio for the association of seropositivity between husband and wife, however, was four times lower than that reported among native Okinawans. In addition, a substantially low seroprevalence (1.3%) was found among their offspring. The decline in HTLV-I transmission in this migrant population may be due to low infectivity in the parent generation who live in a nonendemic environment, increasing numbers of offspring marrying outside of the Okinawan community, and improved living circumstances.
AB - This study examined the seroprevalence and transmission of human T cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) in Japanese families who originated in Okinawa, an area in which HTLV-I is endemic, and who were currently residing in Hawaii, a nonendemic area. Among a cohort of Japanese men whose sera were collected in Hawaii in 1967-1975, those of Okinawan ancestry had an HTLV-I seroprevalence of 11.4%. This study, conducted in 1987-1988, sampled 142 index subjects from this male cohort and tested them along with their wives, children, and spouses of the children for HTLV-I antibodies. SeropositMty in their wives was 11.4% and 41.2% among the seronegative and seropositive index subjects, respectively; seropositivity also increased from 29.4% to 35.3% to 58.8% with the husbands' increasing antibody levels by tertiles. Elevated antibody levels may be a marker for infectivity, which is associated with more efficient sexual transmission of HTLV-I. The age-adjusted odds ratio for the association of seropositivity between husband and wife, however, was four times lower than that reported among native Okinawans. In addition, a substantially low seroprevalence (1.3%) was found among their offspring. The decline in HTLV-I transmission in this migrant population may be due to low infectivity in the parent generation who live in a nonendemic environment, increasing numbers of offspring marrying outside of the Okinawan community, and improved living circumstances.
KW - Emigration and immigration
KW - HTLV-I
KW - HTLV-I, transmission
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U2 - 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a116183
DO - 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a116183
M3 - Article
C2 - 1951296
AN - SCOPUS:0026038696
SN - 0002-9262
VL - 134
SP - 981
EP - 987
JO - American Journal of Epidemiology
JF - American Journal of Epidemiology
IS - 9
ER -
