Adult T cell leukemia in hemodialysis patients from the Kagoshima district, an area in which human T cell leukemia virus type I is highly endemic.

We report 2 cases of adult T cell leukemia (ATL) from hemodialysis (HD) patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) in the Kagoshima district, an endemic area of human T cell leukemia virus type I(HTLV-I) in Japan. The positivity of antibodies to ATL-associated antigen(anti-ATLA) in HD patients, regardless of whether or not blood transfusions were given, has been higher than in healthy persons in the district (p less than 0.01). ATL is considered to break out from HTLV-I carriers. Further study should be conducted to clarify the relationship between HTLV-I infection and CRF, and moreover, attention should be directed not only to treatment of HD but accompanying ATL as well, particularly in HTLV-I-endemic areas.