title: Anti-HTLV III ELISA and Western blot testing in a blood donor population: implications for donor notification.
abstract: We have evaluated the western blot (WB) test for distinguishing anti-HTLV III ELISA-positive donors who have likely been exposed to HTLV III from those that are false positives. Of 1,955 donors, 26 were positive for anti-HTLV III by ELISA testing. Only 6 (23%) were positive by WB: 5 of these 6 were male homosexuals with multiple partners and 5 of 6 had low Th/Ts ratios. The WB-positive donors gave the highest absorbance values in the anti-HTLV III ELISA assay. The immunologic abnormalities in the WB-positive donors suggest that they should be notified of their test results. We conclude that basing a donor notification policy on WB results is the optimum public health strategy for blood banks at the present time.
mesh_terms: D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D001782:Blood Donors; D003101:Collodion; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel / Q000379:methods; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005260:Female; D006678:HIV / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D003101:Collodion