Antibodies to HTLV-I have been detected in sera from 15 (2.0%) of 736 adult blood-donors in Nigeria, in 4 (20.0%) of 20 patients with chronic lymphatic leukaemia, 3 (10.0%) of 30 with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, one of 12 with Burkitt's lymphoma and one of 7 with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. The frequency of positivity was higher (3.6%) in the blood-donors from the guinea and wooded savanna of northern Nigeria than in those from the rain-forest and mangrove swamps of southern Nigeria (1.8% in Lagos and 0.7% in Calabar). Two of the 3 seropositive patients with lymphoma had clinical presentation and courses similar to those of Japanese and Caribbean patients with adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma.

Using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and confirmatory immunoprecipitation tests, sera from 640 Nigerians from Lagos and Cross River States were examined for antibodies against HIV. These comprised 570 blood donors and their family members, 56 patients with various haematological conditions and 14 patients with acute Plasmodium falciparum infection. None of the sera was positive for HTLV-III/ LAV antibodies by immunoprecipitation, although 12 (1.9%) sera were positive by ELISA.

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