Detection of HTLV‐I Genome in Seronegative Infants Born to HTLV‐I Seropositive Mothers by Polymerase Chain Reaction

We applied the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method to detect gag, env and pX sequences of human T cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) provirus in peripheral blood lymphocytes of seronegative infants born to HTLV-I seropositive mothers. Out of 22, five subjects were found to contain the HTLV-I provirus genome. Two of the five cases were judged to be negative for not only anti-HTLV-I antibodies but also the viral antigens on cultivated lymphocytes by the conventional antibody/antigen detection methods. These results indicate that PCR is of great use as a simple and highly sensitive method detect HTLV-I infection.