HTLV-I Myeloneuropathy in the Solomon Islands

To the Editor: We have demonstrated high prevalences of antibodies against human T-cell lymphotropic virus Type I (HTLV-I) in several remote indigenous populations of the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu (Banks and Torres islands) and in some coastal and inland groups in Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya that had had no contact with Japanese or Africans and little contact with white persons before we collected blood samples. 1 2 3 The specificity of the reported seropositivity has recently been questioned because of the absence of HTLV-1–associated disease. 4 We now report a case of HTLV-I myeloneuropathy in a native of Honiara in the Solomon . . .