title: Pooling blood donor samples to reduce the cost of HIV-1 antibody testing.
abstract: Accurate, low cost testing of donated blood is a goal of the global effort to reduce the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1). We describe a modified enzyme immunoassay (EIA) method for detecting HIV-1 antibody (anti-HIV-1) in 15-sample pools. In this preliminary study, the modified EIA was as sensitive for detecting weakly seropositive samples, and as specific for testing HIV-1 Western blot-negative or Western blot-indeterminate results, as testing individual samples by the standard EIA. A simulation of field operations was conducted using pools of blood donor samples collected in the United States and in Shanghai, People's Republic of China. Implementation of the modified EIA method and testing 15-sample pools for anti-HIV-1 is a reliable strategy for reducing the cost of large scale testing of donated blood for anti-HIV-1 in areas of low seroprevalence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, D.C. 20007, USA.
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: McMahon
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Layug
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Sandler
mesh_terms: D001782:Blood Donors; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques / Q000191:economics; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D015483:HIV Antibodies