ABSTRACT
Three new species, Aphelocheirus (s.str.) apicalis sp.n., A. (s.str.) flavinotatus sp.n., and A. (s.str.) sapa, sp.n. are described from northern Vietnam. Aphelocheirus (s.str.) lahu Polhemus & Polhemus, 1988 is reported from Vietnam for the first time. Additional distribution records of A. (s.str.) gularis Horváth, 1918 and A. (s.str.) inops Horváth, 1918 are provided.
Subject(s)
Heteroptera/anatomy & histology , Heteroptera/classification , Animal Distribution , Animal Structures/anatomy & histology , Animal Structures/growth & development , Animals , Body Size , Ecosystem , Female , Heteroptera/growth & development , Male , Organ Size , VietnamABSTRACT
Three new species: Rhyacobates zetteli sp.n., R. angustus sp.n., and R. constrictus sp.n., all from mountainous areas of northern Vietnam, are described. With these new taxa, a total of six species of Rhyacobates has been recorded from Vietnam. A key to species of Rhyacobates occurring in Vietnam is provided.
Subject(s)
Heteroptera/anatomy & histology , Heteroptera/classification , Animals , Ecosystem , Female , Male , Vietnam , WaterABSTRACT
Serum specimens (n = 1899) were assayed for infections with HTLV-I, HTLV-II, and HIV-1 in seven classified groups of normal healthy controls, children, pregnant women, prostitutes, intravenous drug abusers, patients under going hemodialysis, and hemophiliacs in South and North Vietnam. Surprisingly, 125 of 954 samples from South Vietnam exhibited seropositivity for HTLV-II and 119 of these belonged to the group of IVDAs (n = 200). The remaining six positives were a healthy control, a prostitute, two children, and two patients under going hemodialysis. Two IVDAs who were seropositive for HTLV-I and 10 of 15 seropositives for HIV-1 were also positive for HTLV-II in this population. In contrast, no seropositives to any of the viruses were detected in the North Vietnamese samples (0 of 945). The HTLV-II-seropositive IVDAs exhibited increased seropositivity with age compared with HIV-1 seropositivity in the population, and there was no statistical relation between seropositivity for HTLV-II and HIV-1. The HTLV-IIs in South Vietnam IVDAs appeared, by subtype-specific peptide ELISA, to be a mixture of both subtypes a and b, with subtype a predominant. It seems possible that HTLV-II may have been introduced into this population from IVDAs from the United States during the Vietnam conflict, but in a period prior to, or early in, the introduction of HIV-1 to IVDAs.
Subject(s)
HTLV-II Infections/complications , Substance Abuse, Intravenous/complications , Adult , Amino Acid Sequence , Child , Female , HIV Seropositivity/blood , HIV Seropositivity/virology , HIV-1/isolation & purification , HTLV-II Infections/epidemiology , HTLV-II Infections/virology , Human T-lymphotropic virus 1/isolation & purification , Human T-lymphotropic virus 2/classification , Human T-lymphotropic virus 2/isolation & purification , Humans , Male , Molecular Sequence Data , Pregnancy , Seroepidemiologic Studies , Substance Abuse, Intravenous/virology , Vietnam/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Inhabitants and patients of two cities in Vietnam were tested for antibodies to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV), hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibody to HBsAg (anti-HBs). Anti-HCV was detected in 43 (9%) of 491 individuals without liver disease in Ho Chi Minh, more frequently (P < 0.001) than in 18 (4%) of 511 in Hanoi. There was no apparent age-specific distribution of anti-HCV. Among inhabitants of both cities, HBsAg and anti-HBs were frequent, detected in 10-14% and 35-37%, respectively; the prevalence of anti-HBs increased in parallel with age. Among individuals at high risk, the prevalence of anti-HCV was particularly high in drug users (58/67 or 87%) and patients on maintenance haemodialysis (15/28 or 54%) or with haemophilia (7/24 or 29%) in Ho Chi Minh, and in drug users in Hanoi (61/200 or 31%). Prevalence of HBsAg and anti-HBs in high-risk groups was not different from those in the general population. Screening of anti-HCV in blood donors in Vietnam is of urgent necessity because blood supply is dependent on commercial blood donors, many of whom are drug users at high risk.
