N.Z. has first case of T-cell leukaemia

Press, 13 June 1986, Page 25

N.Z. has first case of T-cell leukaemia

PA Wellington The discovery of what is believed to be New Zealand’s first case of Tcell leukaemia has raised fears of another A.1.D.5.type virus becoming established in New Zealand, says an Auckland clinical immunologist, Dr Stanley Somerfield. The disease is carried by a virus in the same family as the acquired immune deficiency syndrome virus and is believed to be transmitted the same way — through sexual contact and blood exchange. Dr Somerfield, of Auckland University’s School of Medicine, said T-cell leukaemia was probably carried by a proportion of people with A.I.D.S. The

New Zealand case, in a middle-aged Auckland woman, had not yet been positively identified, but the woman had all the features of the disease. The woman, and most overseas people with the disease, were not thought to be among those at greatest risk from A.I.D.S. — homosexuals, intravenous drug users, and haemophiliacs — and the disease appeared to be transmitted from close personal contact, in addition to blood and sexual contacts.

However, symptoms of T-cell leukaemia also took much longer to show up and a person could carry the virus for decades before symptoms appeared.