Retroviral Infections of the CNS of Nonhuman Primates

Abstract

Central nervous system infection by retroviruses has become a topic of great concern due to the association of neurologic sequelae with infection by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (Carne et al. 1985; Ho et al. 1985; Levy et al. 1985; Petito et al. 1985; Price et al. 1988; Resnick et al. 1985; Shaw et al. 1985; Vazeux et al. 1988) and the human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) (Jacobson et al. 1988; Piccardo et al.1988; Poiesz et al.1980). The epidemiology, pathology, and virology of these neurologic sequelae are the subject of other chapters in this book. Although encephalopathy and dementia occur frequently in association with HIV infection of the brain in children and adults (Ho et al. 1987; Price et al. 1988), many questions remain unanswered about the pathogenesis of this CNS infection. Similarly, HTLV-1 has been strongly associated with a slowly progressive myelopathy known as tropical spastic paraparesis (Jacobson et al. 1988; Bhagavati et al. 1988) but a causal relationship has not been firmly established. In addition, recent but as yet unconfirmed reports implicate a retrovirus related to HTLV-1 in multiple sclerosis (Karpas et al. 1986; Koprowski et al. 1985; Koprowski and DeFreitas 1988; Ohta et al. 1986).