Nonvenereal Transmission of Human T-Cell Lymphotropic Viruses in Zambia

Nonvenereal transmission of Human immunodeficiency Virus-1 can occur by transfusion of contaminated blood or blood products, including the sharing of needles and syringes by drug addicts. The possibility of transmission by blood sucking arthropods is theoretically possible but unlikely. It has not yet, however, been studied in an environment where insect vectors of human diseases are highly prevalent. We conducted a large seroprevalence study in the first quarter of 1987 for HIV-1 in Mansa, a community of about 50,000 people in Northeastern Zambia near the border with Zaire. In this community, transmission of P. falciparum malaria is intense and perennial. The hypothesis tested was that prepubescent school children would have no evidence of HIV-1 infection unless they were born of HIV-1 infected mothers or had received contaminated blood transfusions. We also hypothesized that a random sample of households in Mansa would show that sexually active older children and adults would have proportionately increasing seroreactivity to HIV-1.