Human T lymphotrophic virus type 1 (HTLV-I) associated leukaemia has a poor prognosis even with chemotherapy. We describe a patient with adult T-cell leukaemia treated with allogeneic bone marrow transplantation from an HTLV-I negative identical sibling donor. During follow-up after bone marrow transplantation, HTLV-I could be repeatedly isolated inspite of anti-viral prophylaxis. The patient died of an acute encephalitis and HTLV-I could be detected in autopsy material from the brain. By a PCR-based technique using short tandem repeats (STRs) it was shown that the patient's haemopoiesis was of donor origin. This shows the infection of donor cells in vivo by an aetiological agent which has been implicated in the leukaemogenic process for adult T-cell leukaemia.

Bone Marrow/VIROLOGY *Bone Marrow Transplantation Brain/VIROLOGY Case Report Encephalitis, Viral/ETIOLOGY Follow-Up Studies Human HTLV-I/*ISOLATION & PURIF Leukemia-Lymphoma, T-Cell, Acute, HTLV-I-Associated/*THERAPY Lymphocytes/*VIROLOGY Transplantation Chimera JOURNAL ARTICLE

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