title: Human T-cell lymphotropic virus in volunteer blood donors.
abstract: Serum samples collected in 1985 and 1986 from 18,257 donors to the Greater New York Blood Program were screened by enzyme-linked immunoassay for antibody to human T-cell lymphotropic virus (anti-HTLV). Fifteen samples (0.08%) were confirmed positive: 7 by radioimmunoprecipitation assay (RIPA) alone, 6 by Western blot alone, and 2 by combined results from both tests. One donor, whose original test result was uninterpretable because multiple nonspecific bands were present on RIPA, clearly tested positive on subsequent specimens. Follow-up testing of individuals with this type of result may be needed to resolve their HTLV status. Anti-HTLV prevalence increased with age and was significantly more common in black or Hispanic donors and in those born in the Caribbean than in other donors. All anti-HTLV-positive donors were negative for antibody to HIV-1, and only one donor (7% of those positive) would have been excluded by any of the routine donor screening tests used at that time.
authors.affiliation: Wolf Szmuness Laboratory of Epidemiology, New York Blood Center, New York.
authors.forename: P E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pindyck
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schrode
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Steaffens
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D001769:Blood / Q000382:microbiology; D001782:Blood Donors; D017977:Deltaretrovirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence
chemical_list: D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies