title: Evaluation of HIV type 1 western blot-indeterminate blood donors for the presence of human or bovine retroviruses.
abstract: From 1985 through 1990, 1100 of 500,000 human blood donations in Syracuse, New York were repeatedly reactive by ELISA for antibodies to the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Nine hundred of the ELISA-reactive samples were confirmed as negative by Western blot (WB), 40 were confirmed as positive, and the remaining 160 sera were indeterminate, reacting mainly with HIV-1 gag gene products. Twenty donors with the most reactive indeterminate WB were selected for follow-up studies. Four of these 20 donors admitted to retroviral risk factors and, interestingly, 12 (60%) had exposure to dairy cattle and drank unpasteurized milk. These 20 donors were analyzed over a 3-year period for the presence of the pathogenic human retroviruses HIV-1, HIV-2, human T cell lymphoma/leukemia virus types I and II (HTLV-I and HTLV-II), as well as bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) and leukemia virus (BLV). Retroviral analyses included serology, plasma antigen capture, virus culture, and the polymerase chain reaction. Only one donor seroconverted and was clearly infected with HIV-1. None of the other 19 donor serological reactivities to HIV-1 changed, nor were they positive for any of the above-mentioned retroviruses. Although we cannot ascertain whether these latter 19 HIV-1 WB-indeterminate donors were exposed to human or bovine retroviral proteins, it is unlikely that their HIV-1 seroreactivity was caused by infection with HIV-1, HIV-2, HTLV-I, HTLV-II, BLV, or BIV.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, State University of New York, Syracuse 13210, USA.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Sherman
authors.forename: N L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Dock
authors.forename: G D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Ehrlich
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Sninsky
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brothers
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gillsdorf
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bryz-Gornia
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Poiesz
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001782:Blood Donors; D015153:Blotting, Western / Q000379:methods*; D002417:Cattle; D017931:DNA Primers; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D005188:False Negative Reactions; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005260:Female; D015683:Gene Products, gag / Q000097:blood*; D015750:Genes, gag; D018023:HIV Seronegativity; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015498:HIV-2 / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015367:Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D016087:Immunodeficiency Virus, Bovine / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008892:Milk / Q000821:virology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009518:New York; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012192:Retroviridae Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D015683:Gene Products, gag