No evidence for true HTLV-I or HIV-1 antibodies in Finnish Lapps.

Previous seroepidemiologic studies have suggested that in addition to certain subtropical and tropical parts of the world, human T cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) may be endemic in the arctic regions, too. We studied 111 sera collected from original inhabitants of Finnish Lapland with ELISA and Western blot analysis for antibodies to HTLV-I and human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). No true positive sera for either virus were found in the confirmatory Western blot assays, albeit 6 and 2%, respectively, were positive in the screening ELISA assays. Despite the small sample size this survey does not support the hypothesis that HTLV-I would be endemic in the Arctic.