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American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 134, No. 9: 981-987
Copyright © 1991 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health

research-article

Declining Seroprevalence and Transmission of HTLV-I in Japanese Families Who Immigrated to Hawaii

Gloria Y. F. Ho1,2,, Abraham M. Y. Nomura3, Kenrad Nelson1, Helen Lee4, B. Frank Polk1 6 and William A. Blattner5

1Department of Epidemiology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health Baltimore, MD
2Current address: Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine Bronx, NY
3Kuakini Medical Center Honolulu, HI
4Abbott Laboratories, Diagnostic Division North Chicago, IL
5Environmental Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer institute, National institutes of Health Bethesda, MD

Reprint requests to Dr. Gloria Y F Ho, Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Room 1312, Bronx, NY 10461

This study examined the seroprevalence and transmission of human T cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) in Japanese families who originated in Okinawa, an area in which HTLV-I is endemic, and who were currently residing in Hawaii, a nonendemic area. Among a cohort of Japanese men whose sera were collected in Hawaii in 1967–1975, those of Okinawan ancestry had an HTLV-I seroprevalence of 11.4%. This study, conducted in 1987–1988, sampled 142 index subjects from this male cohort and tested them along with their wives, children, and spouses of the children for HTLV-I antibodies. SeropositMty in their wives was 11.4% and 41.2% among the seronegative and seropositive index subjects, respectively; seropositivity also increased from 29.4% to 35.3% to 58.8% with the husbands' increasing antibody levels by tertiles. Elevated antibody levels may be a marker for infectivity, which is associated with more efficient sexual transmission of HTLV-I. The age-adjusted odds ratio for the association of seropositivity between husband and wife, however, was four times lower than that reported among native Okinawans. In addition, a substantially low seroprevalence (1.3%) was found among their offspring. The decline in HTLV-I transmission in this migrant population may be due to low infectivity in the parent generation who live in a nonendemic environment, increasing numbers of offspring marrying outside of the Okinawan community, and improved living circumstances.

emigration and immigration; HTLV-I; HTLV-I, transmission

6Deceased.


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