Prevalence of antibodies interactive with HTLV-I antigens in selected Solomon Islands population

Serum samples obtained in 1986 from healthy individuals in three distinct Solomon Islands populations were screened for antibodies to human lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV‐I). One of the populations tested lives on the remote Polynesian outlier atoll, Ontong Java. The other two groups, the Baegu and the Lau, are Melanesians living on Malaita, the most populous of the larger Solomon Islands. Eighty‐eight of a total of 601 (14.6%) sera tested were repeatably reactive in an enzyme‐linked immunsosorbent assay (ELISA) that uses as antigen a lysate of HTLV‐I viral particles. The prevalence of antibodies interactive with HTLV‐I antigens varied among the three groups, ranging from 8.5% (16/188) in the Baegu, through 13% (7/54) in the Lau, to 18.1% (65/359) among the Ontong Java poplation. The specificity of the screening ELISA was confirmed by protein immunoblot. No serum samples were obtained from children under 9 years of age. Although 121 of the 601 sera came from children between the ages of 9 and 19, none of these were reactive in the HTLV‐I ELISA. Starting in the third decade, the prevalence of HTLV‐I seropositivity increased with age, from 8.8% (10/113) between the ages of 20 and 29 to a peak of 25.9% (15/58) and 25% (15/60) in the sixth and seventh decade, respectively. This age‐specific prevalence pattern is strikingly similar to that which is seen in populations where HTLV‐I infection is endemic.