HTLV-I virus as a possible cause of Pacific spastic paraparesis
Main Article Content
A high-prevalence focus of tropical spastic paraparesis in the South Pacific coast of Colombia is described. Because all patients lived on the coast of the Pacific lowlands, the author named the syndrome paraparesia espástica del Pacífico (PEP). The symptoms and signs are those of an upper-motor-neuron syndrome found only in adults of both sexes.
The prevalence of the syndrome (98 x 100 000) in Tumaco, a small Colombian port, exceeds the present prevalence of motor neuron disease in Guam and the Kii peninsula. The minimal diagnostic criteria are given. Of the nearly 100 cases found, 77 were included in this paper, and 20 classical patients were brought from Colombia's Pacific coast to the Hospital Universitario del Valle in Cali, where a complete neurologic and laboratory workup was performed. Positive findings included multiple parasitisms (85%), blood eosinophilia (50%), megaloblastic (40%), positive serum VDRLs (75%), and 75% positivity for FTA-abs in CSF. Virological studies for HTLV-I showed high rates of ELISA antibodies in 100% of sera and 73% of CSF. These findings suggest an infectious process as the cause of tropical spastic paraparesis. Sexual transmission could explain why the disease affects only adults.
Downloads
- Pablo Barreto, Bibliographic news , Colombia Medica: Vol. 17 No. 2 (1986)
- Vladimir Zaninovic, Robin Biojó, Pablo Barreto, Pacific spastic paraparesis , Colombia Medica: Vol. 12 No. 3 (1981)
- Pablo Barreto, Key to species of the genus Rhodnius (Hemiptera, Reduviidae, Triatomine) , Colombia Medica: Vol. 17 No. 4 (1986)
- Pablo Barreto, Catalog of the Culicoides (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae) of Colombia , Colombia Medica: Vol. 17 No. 3 (1986)
- Eduardo de Lima, Luis Guillermo Mayoral, César Arango, Carlos Cuello, Fulminant hepatitis. Presentation of 3 cases and review of the literature , Colombia Medica: Vol. 17 No. 4 (1986)
- Vladimir Zaninovic, Cesar Arango, Robin Biojó, Hernán Ramírez, Isabella Borrero, Association between lymphocytotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) infection and Pacific spastic paraparesis , Colombia Medica: Vol. 17 No. 2 (1986)
- Mauricio Barreto, Pablo Barreto, Antonio D' Alessandro, Psammolestes arthuri (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) and its parasite Telenomus capito (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) in Colombia , Colombia Medica: Vol. 17 No. 2 (1986)
Similar Articles
- Vladimir Zaninovic, Cesar Arango, Robin Biojó, Hernán Ramírez, Isabella Borrero, Association between lymphocytotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) infection and Pacific spastic paraparesis , Colombia Medica: Vol. 17 No. 2 (1986)
You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The copy rights of the articles published in Colombia Médica belong to the Universidad del Valle. The contents of the articles that appear in the Journal are exclusively the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Editorial Committee of the Journal. It is allowed to reproduce the material published in Colombia Médica without prior authorization for non-commercial use