Regional variation in prevalence of antibody against human T‐lymphotropic virus types I and III in Kenya, East Africa

The prevalence of antibodies against HTLV—III and ‐I was studied among populations of 6 distinctly different regions of Kenya, an equatorial African country in which AIDS has rarely been observed. Overall, 21% of subjects had ELISA reactions suggesting the presence of antibody against HTLV‐III. The frequency of HTLV‐III antibodies was highest among the Turkana people (50%) and lowest among the Masai (8%). Prevalence increased with age but was not related to sex. The pattern of ELISA‐detected antibody against HTLV‐I was similar. The specificity of these antibodies was supported by Western blot analysis of a subset of sera with high and low ELISA ratios, in which 66% and 73% of those with ELISA ratios considered positive ( = > 5.0 in this study) also had a profile of bands consistent with HTLV‐III and HTLV‐I respectively. The antibodies detected were not cross‐reactive between HTLV‐III and HTLV—I on Western blot analysis. In a series of subjects with various parasitic and infectious diseases, patients with idiopathic splenomegaly and with schistosomiasis had a high proportion of antibodies against both HTLV‐III and HTLV‐I. This survey shows that reactivity in the ELISA HTLV‐III and HTLV‐I assays are common among Kenyans but vary considerably by region. Copyright © 1985 Wiley‐Liss, Inc., A Wiley Company