HTLV-I-Like viral particles in spinal cord cells in jamaican tropical spastic paraparesis

Abstract
Viral-like particles morphologically identical to human T-lymphotropic virus type I or II, but distinct from human T-lymphotropic virus type III, have been seen by electron microscopy in spinal cord tissue from a Jamaican tropical spastic paraparesis patient who was known to be positive for human T-lymphotropic virus I antibody before death. This is the first electron microscopy report on a patient from an endemic tropical spastic paraparesis region.