Presence of HTLV-IIb among HIV-1 positive IDUs in Argentina

Conclusion These results correlate with previous studies conducted among IDUs from New York city, Vietnam and Southern Europe where HTLV-IIb was more frequently found. In contrast, IIa is found among IDUs from other regions of the USA, Europe and Brazil. This is the first time in which subtype b is described in Argentina among IDUs. Its presence may be due to migrations of aborigines to big cities and the introduction of drugs in this population. Lately, there was also a high rate of migration and tourism to Argentina, especially from southern Europe and USA, possibly contributing to the spread of HTLV-IIb in our country. Interestingly, the IIa sample described here was found to be related with Brazilian aborigine sequences in contrast to the previous Argentinian IDU which was closer to African isolates. from 2006 International Meeting of The Institute of Human Virology Baltimore, USA. 17–21 November, 2006