Familial Spastic Paraparesis Syndrome Associated with HTLV-I Infection

Abstract

HUMAN T-cell lymphotropic virus Type I (HTLV-I) is a retrovirus identified as the etiologic agent of adult T-cell leukemia and lymphoma.1,2More recently, HTLV-I infection has been implicated in the causation of chronic progressive myelopathies, such as tropical spastic paraparesis3,4and HTLV-I—associated myelopathy.5HTLV-I—associated myelopathy affects patients from southern Japan, which has a temperate climate, whereas tropical spastic paraparesis affects persons from tropical areas. Despite these differences, the two conditions resemble each other,6prompting some to suggest that they are different names for the same disease.7HTLV-I has been implicated in the development of these conditions, because affected persons have. © 1990, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.