Document 0849
 DOCN  M9480849
 TI    Genetic heterogeneity of HTLV-II infecting Italian drug abusers.
 DT    9410
 AU    Salemi M; Cimarelli A; Achilli G; Cattaneo E; Casoli C; Bertazzoni U;
       IGBE/CNR, Pavia, Italy.
 SO    Abstr Gen Meet Am Soc Microbiol. 1994;94:485 (abstract no. T-17). Unique
       Identifier : AIDSLINE ASM94/94313096
 AB    The infection of intravenous drug users (IVDU) by the Human T-cell
       Leukemia virus type II (HTLV-II) has been demonstrated in North America
       and in Europe, frequently associated to HIV-1. We have obtained from
       Italian IVDUs two isolates of HTLV-II, Gu and Va, and the
       characterization of their genomic structure by sequencing the entire LTR
       and env regions has shown that they belong to the HTLV-II subtype b. We
       have now extended our study to other isolates of HTLV-II from the same
       cohort of IVDUs by sequencing the entire env gene. The comparison with
       the env sequence of the American isolates Mo and NRA, prototypes of the
       IIa and IIb subtypes, clearly indicated that the new isolates, Bo and
       Md, belong to the HTLV-IIa subtype. The results support the existence of
       genetic heterogeneity within the HTLV-II group and suggest that both the
       IIa and IIb subtypes are present among the IVDU population in Italy.
 DE    Base Sequence  Comparative Study  Genes, env  Genome, Viral  Human
       HTLV-II/CLASSIFICATION/*GENETICS/*ISOLATION & PURIF  HTLV-II
       Infections/*MICROBIOLOGY/TRANSMISSION  Italy  Repetitive Sequences,
       Nucleic Acid  *Substance Abuse, Intravenous  MEETING ABSTRACT

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