782 attention by a family member after hearing a media report concerning HPS cases. No specimens from 1959 were available. Blood obtained from the man during 1994 was initially tested by the New Mexico Scientific Laboratory Division. He was found to be IgG positive for antibodies to SNV. This was later confirmed by the CDC. This individual’s illness suggests that hantaviruses have been in the western USA for at least 35 years. Reports from the Native American populations in the area of the outbreak would suggest that similar outbreaks occurred earlier in this century. Because HPS has no pathognomonic clinical signs, search of historical (pre-twentieth century) medical documents would prove futile in trying to discover retrospective cases from that era. Having surviving cases also allows investigators to follow long-term IgG antibody levels much more quickly than waiting for time to elapse in following current survivors of HPS. Because this individual is a survivor, we have a serum history that shows he is still producing IgG antibodies 35 years after the illness. *J Wyatt Frampton, Shelley Lanser, Craig R Nichols, Paul J Ettestad *Utah Department of Health, Bureau of Epidemiology, Salt Lake City, UT; and New Mexico Department of Health, Santa Fe, NM, USA 1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Outbreak of acute illness—southwestern United States, 1993. MMWR 1993; 42 (22): 421-24. 2 Wilson C, Hjelle B, Jenison S. Probable hantavirus pulmonary syndrome that occurred in New Mexico in 1975. Ann Intern Med 1994; 120 (9): 813. HIV-1 subtypes in different risk groups in South Africa SIR-The initial AIDS epidemic in South Africa in the early 1980s affected mainly the homosexual population and shifted to a predominantly heterosexual epidemic by the late 1980s.’- By 1994, an annual antenatal survey showed 7-57% of pregnant women were infected. 3 We investigated the molecular epidemiology of the South African epidemic by genotyping viruses in 53 HIV-infected individuals residing in the Cape Town region of the Western Cape Province. Samples collected between 1984-1994 were divided into two groups according to mode of transmission: homosexual (18) and bisexual (2), and heterosexual (30) and vertical (3). DNA was extracted from virus-infected cell cultures or directly from blood containing EDTA. A region of the gag gene was amplified by PCR and cloned. A 490-base region, which encoded the complete pl7-matrix protein, was sequenced. Subtype designation Yr AB+=year of first specimen for diagnosis of HIV-1 positive. *1 bisexual transmission. ’3 vertical transmission. Table: HIV-1 subtype designation by year of serodiagnosis and mode of transmission was by phylogenetic analysis using the neighbour-joining approach. Three different subtypes were identified; B, C, and D (table). Of the 20 men infected by homosexual or bisexual contact, 15 were infected with subtype B viruses and 5 with subtype D viruses; whereas, of the 33 individuals infected by heterosexual contact or vertical transmission, 28 were infected with subtype C viruses and 5 with subtype B viruses. The average intra-subtype DNA distance for subtypes B, C, and D was 6-2, 6-8, and 6-2% respectively but ranged from 36-95%; 1-0-11-8%, and 4-8-7-6% respectively. A study in 1983 on HIV-positive homosexual men in South Africa showed that the majority had had sexual contact while in Europe and North America.’ Subtype B is the major strain associated with homosexual transmission in these regions4 and was also the predominant virus in the homosexual group in this study. Subtype C was the predominant virus in the heterosexual group and was exclusive to this group. This subtype was originally described from central Africa and has more recently been detected in South America and Asia.4 .4 Heterosexual transmission now accounts for the overwhelming majority of new HIV-1 cases in South Africa2.3 and it is estimated that 1-2 million people are presently infected. *Carolyn Williamson, Susan Engelbrecht, Maureen Lambrick, Estrelita J van Rensburg, Robin Wood, Wilhelmina Bredell, Anna-Lise Williamson Departments of *Medical Microbiology and Medicine, University of Cape Town; and Department of Medical Virology, University of Stellenbosch and Tygerberg Hospital, South Africa 1 Sher R. HIV infection in South Africa 1982-1988. S Afr Med J 1989; 76: 314-18. 2 Kustner H, ed. Epidemiological comments. Department of Health and Welfare 1994; 21 (11): 223-46. 3 Swanevelder R. Fifth National HIV survey of women attending antenatal clinics, South Africa, October/November 1994. In: Kustner H, ed. Epidemiological comments. Department of Health and Welfare 1995; 22 (5): 90-100. 4 Myers G, Korber B, Wain-Hobson S, Jeang K-T, Henderson L, Pavlakis GN. Human retroviruses and AIDS 1994, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico. Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis in Europe SiR-Ehrlichioses are tick-borne diseases caused by intracellular bacteria that parasitise leucocytes of humans and animals. Ehrlichia chaffeensis is the agent of human monocytic ehrlichiosis first described in 1986.’ This Ehrlichia is transmitted by Amblyomma americanum ticks and the reservoir seems to be deer. Despite an intensive search, human monocytic ehrlichiosis has been described only in the USA. Recently, human granulocytic ehrlichiosis has also been reported in the USA.2°3 Human granulocytic Ehrlichia is serologically and genetically indistinguishable from E phagocytophila and E equi, the agents of granulocytic ehrlichiosis in sheep and in horses. Ixodes spp ticks are the vectors of E phagocytophila and are likely to be the vector of this disease Ixodes ticks are also the vector of Borrelia burgdorferi, the agent of Lyme disease. Ixodes ticks are distributed world wide, and are plentiful in Switzerland where many cases of Lyme diseases have been described. This led us to hypothesise that there may be cases of granulocytic Ehrlichia in areas where Lyme disease is present. 70 sera from people bitten by Ixodes ticks (proven by the presence of B burgdorferii antibodies in their serum) in northern Switzerland were tested by immunofluorescence assay (IFA) against E equi antigens. We also tested 50 sera from blood donors from the south of France not exposed to