Limited nucleotide sequences of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-1) provirus isolated from the first case of a Korean patient with HTLV-I associated myelopathy and tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) were analysed and compared with other isolates from different regions of the world. The sequences of the env, LTR regions (536bp, 690bp respectively) showed 98.7%, 99.3% homologies with the prototype HTLV-I, ATK-1, isolated from a Japanese Adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) patient. A comparison between other isolates from different geographical origins revealed that the Korean HTLV-I isolate is more closely related to Japanese isolates than to those from other geographical origins
Adult ; Base Sequence ; Case Report ; DNA, Viral/genetics ; Human ; Human T-lymphotropic virus 1/*genetics/isolation & purification ; Korea/ethnology ; Male ; Molecular Probes/genetics ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Paraparesis, Tropical ; Spastic/epidemiology/ethnology/*genetics/*microbiology