An association of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I infection with vascular dementia

J. Kira, T. Hamada, Y. Kawano, M. Okayama, K. Yamasaki

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15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Subjects ranging in age from 50 to 89 years old, either with or without dementia were studied by both ELISA for anti-human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) gag 100-130 antibody and by cranial CT in order to clarify the relationship between HTLV-I infection and dementia. The frequency of anti-HTLV-I antibody was found to be significantly higher in the patients with dementia (24/130, 18.5%) than in those without dementia (11/139, 7.9%) (P=0.0169). Among the various types of dementia, HTLV-I seropositivity was found to be significantly associated with vascular dementia (11/48, 23%) (P=0.0087), but not with Alzheimer type dementia. In addition, HTLV-I seropositivity was also associated with Babinski sign, and the severity of cerebral infarction, ventricular dilatation and periventricular lucency on CT. The presence of HTLV-I therefore appears to be one of the risk factors for vascular dementia in HTLV-I endemic areas.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)305-309
Number of pages5
JournalActa Neurologica Scandinavica
Volume96
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1997

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Neurology
  • Clinical Neurology

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