Seroepidemiology of adult T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV-I/ATLV): origin of virus carriers in Japan.

There are two large clusters of HTLV-I/ATLV carriers in the world. One large endemic area could be Africa, but available information is not yet sufficient to prove this. The other definitely large endemic area is Japan. Much smaller endemic areas and sporadic cases of the virus-carriers have been found in many parts of the world, including the Caribbean basin and Taiwan. Where did ATL virus carriers in Japan come from? From seroepidemiological studies, it is postulated that the carriers originated among Jomon people, who were the earliest inhabitants of Japan in 300 to 10,000 B.C. or earlier.