We report the first Korean case of HTLV-I associated myelopathy (HAM), which was confirmed by Western blot assay of serum and cerebrospinal fluid. Interestingly, the proband's wife was a Japanese Korean who had lived in the endemic area of HAM, Kyushu. Japan, Investigations revealed significantly elevated anti HTLV-I antibody titers in the serum, but not in the CSF, suggesting that she was a carrier of HTLV-I. Considering that the patient had not had a previous blood transfusion, the most common route of HTLV-I, it is likely that the patient was infected by his wife through sexual intercourse. Although previous reports suggest that the transmission of HTLV-I is essentially from man to man or man to woman, our case suggests that woman to man transmission also occurs.
Adult ; Blotting, Western ; HTLV-I Antibodies/analysis ; Human ; Korea/epidemiology ; Male ; Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic/*epidemiology/immunology