Antibodies for Rous Sarcoma Virus (Bryan) in Fowl, Animal, and Human Populations of East Africa. II. Antibodies in Domestic Chickens, Wildfowl, Primates, and Man in Kenya, and Antibodies for Burkitt Lymphoma Cells in Man

Summary

Antibodies for Bryan Rous sarcoma virus indicating infection with a member or members of group A avian sarcoma leukosis viruses were found in sera of game fowl, including wild ducks, francolins, guinea fowl, bustards, and ostriches, in three areas of Kenya (Lake Naivasha, Makindu, and Selengai). Antibodies For group A viruses were also common in sera of domestic chickens, whether maintained ona large, commercial farm or in small flocks in native villages. Infection with these agents could apparently maintain itself in game fowl with different social habits (guinea fowl vs. bustards) and contact between game fowl and, domestic chickens did not seem essential to the persistence of infection in either group. Sera obtained from domesticated game fowl raised in the United States were all negative for antibodies to the group A viruses. Two of seventy-seven persons examined from the three areas of Kenya showed antibodies for RSV-B,whereas the sera from primates, including baboons, chimpanzees, and green monkeys living in Kenya and Tanganyika, were negative as were those from baboons born in the United States. Antibodies binding to the EB3 strain of cells derived from a Burkitt lymphoma tumor were found commonly in the sera of Africans living in the three areas of Kenya studied.