A Seroepidemiological Survey of HTLV-1 in the Philippines

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Abstract
The prevalence of human T-lymphotropic retrovirus type-1 (HTLV-1) was examined in the Asian Pacific area to search for endemic foci outside Japan. A total of 1323 sera from healthy subjects in the Philippines including Fillpino lowlanders, Mongoloid slash-and-burn agriculturalists and the Mongoloid aboriginal hunter-gatherers (Aeta group and Mamanwa group) were examined for the presence of antibodies to HTLV-1 by the indirect immunofluorescence test and by the Western blot technique using HTLV-1 carrying cells. Nineteen out of 20 HTLV-1 antibody carriers found in the present study are clustered in the Aeta group of Mongoloid aboriginal hunter-gatherers who have until recently been isolated In the remote mountainous areas of Luzon Island since their arrival in the Philippines during the last glacial era (12000–15000 years ago). This finding supports the theory that HTLV-1 orglnated In Mongoloid racial groups during prehistoric times.

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