title: Detection of anti-varicella-zoster virus antibodies in blood donors by automated passive haemagglutination.
abstract: 1,219 normal blood donors were screened for anti-varicella-zoster virus antibodies by automated passive haemagglutination (APH) on a Technicon 15-channel AutoAnalyzer. 98 samples (8%) were positive by APH and 92% of these were shown to have antibody titres greater than or equal to 1/16 by indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA). Parallel testing on an additional 265 donors revealed that 11 (4%) individuals had IFA titres greater than 1/16 and 6 of these 11 donors were identified by APH. Thus, APH is an effective means of rapidly detecting units of plasma acceptable for production of varicella-zoster immunoglobulin.
mesh_terms: D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001782:Blood Donors; D006386:Hemagglutination Tests / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014645:Herpesvirus 3, Human / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral