More on HTLV tax and Mycosis Fungoides

To the Editor: Drs. Pancake and Zucker-Franklin (Aug. 19 issue)¹ report that about two thirds of the patients with mycosis fungoides in their study appeared to be infected with human T-cell lymphotropic retrovirus type I or type II (HTLV-I or HTLV-II), since circulating mononuclear cells from these patients contained HTLV-related tax sequences. Instead of being widely distributed, these viruses and the diseases caused by them are more common in certain geographic areas and among certain populations²,³. We are not aware that mycosis fungoides has a similar epidemiologic pattern. Could the tax sequences present in circulating cells from many…