HTLV-I Polymyositis in a Patient Also Infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus

Abstract

EPIDEMIOLOGIC studies of the seroprevalence of antibodies to human T-cell leukemia virus Type I (HTLV-I) have associated this viral infection with leukemia, a chronic myelopathy,^{1 2 3 4 5} and polymyositis.² In Jamaica, where the seroprevalence of HTLV-I is high (ranging from 7 to 18 percent among persons 30 to 69 years old⁶), all seven patients with polymyositis were seropositive for HTLV-I. In the United States, where the prevalence of HTLV-I infection is less than 0.1 percent,⁷ 1 of 49 patients with polymyositis was HTLV-I seropositive. Recently, another retrovirus, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), has also been associated with a progressive myopathy.^{8 9 10 11 12 13} All . . .