Low prevalence of HTLV-II in mayan indians in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

ABSTRACT

Infection with HTLV-II endemic in Ameridians, with prevalence ranging from 0.89 percent - 33 percent. To determine the prevalence of HTLV-II among indigenous Mayans in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, 440 indigenous Mayans were recruited, all native to and residents of one of six Mayan communities in the Yucatan Peninsula, (Xohuayan n=144, Yaxachen n=101, Kanxoc n=84, Xocen n=40, Nabalan N=46 and X'calot n=25) between May, 1992 and June, 1993. All of the above are pre-Hispanic settlements located in tropical forest with no immigrations for over 50 years. Of the 440 indigenous Mayans, only one woman from the X'calot tribe (0.23 percent) was shown to be infected with HTVL-II. A high precentage of indeterminate results was found (22/439, 5 percent), three of which were accounted for by the husband and two children of the positive female case. PCR analysis followed by specific restriction digestion demonstrated the virus to be of the HTVL-IIb subtype, similar to that described in the Guaymi Indians from Panama. The presence of HTVL-II in the Mayan ethnos, and in other Ameridian populatins supports the idea that HTVL-II is an ancestral virus in America and that it has been sustained in "closed" communities