Screening for anti-HIV and HBsAg in pooled sera from a clinical chemistry section as a tool for epidemiological survey.
With the aim of estimating the unknown spread of HIV into the general society, a program for testing pooled routine sera from a clinical chemistry laboratory has been tried. Serum samples obtained from the daily inflow of blood tubes at the Clinical Chemistry Laboratory, Malmö General Hospital, and not labelled as risk samples for blood-borne infection(s), were collected and pools of up to ten sera each were constructed according to a special protocol. All serum pools were screened for anti-HIV and HBsAg. During the 32-months period of the study 3,016 serum pools from men and the same number from women were collected and analysed. These pools together contained sera from 26,468 male and 26,891 female patients, respectively. Altogether 33 male and 2 female pools were found anti-HIV positive. Anti-HIV-positive males appeared in all age groups, without significant difference between the groups. Two female pools from the age group 15 to 24 years were anti-HIV positive; these samples were drawn during the last year of testing. HBsAg was detected in 189 male and 129 female pools. From 1989 to the first half of 1991 the mean anti-HIV prevalence among the male samples investigated was 0.10%, with 95% confidence limits from 0 to 0.25%. If the upper confidence limit is exceeded in the future, this could be a warning of increased spread of HIV of in society.
Hansson
B G
BG
Department of Medical Microbiology, General Hospital, Malmö, Sweden.
Hansson
H B
HB
Ohlin
A K
AK
Nordenfelt
E
E
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000635:transmission; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002624:Chemistry, Clinical; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007755:Laboratories, Hospital; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology
D015483:HIV Antibodies; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens