Detection of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and human lymphotropic virus (HTLV) type I or II dual infections by polymerase chain reaction.

To type the specific human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV) coinfection in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients, we have utilized the polymerase chain reaction technique. The primer pairs employed for HTLV-I and HTLV-II are derived from pol and env regions and gag region for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The data indicate that the selected primer pairs are specific for each virus and are able to detect HTLV-I and -II coinfection in lymphoid cells established from AIDS patients.