Comparison of four HTLV-I and HTLV-I + II ELISAs.
BACKGROUND
Various countries require blood donor screening using assays applying specific HTLV-I and HTLV-II antigens. We evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of 4 anti-HTLV-I + II ELISAs (Abbott, Murex, Organon Teknika and Ortho).


METHODS
Panel A consisted of HTLV-I-positive individuals (n = 41), panel B of Mixed Titer Performance Panel 204 (Boston Biomedica Inc. panels C and D of dilution series from HTLV-I-positive (n= 30) and HTLV-II-positive (n =20) individuals and panel E of sera from first-time blood donors (n = 1,055).


RESULTS
In HTLV-I- and -II-positive samples, a sensitivity of 100% could be observed in all 4 ELISAs. In diluted HTLV-I- and -II-positive samples, probit analysis revealed that the Murex assay had the highest analytical sensitivity, followed by the ELISAs from Ortho, Abbott and Organon Teknika. In specimens from first-time donors, a specificity of 100% was observed in ELISAs from Murex, Organon Teknika and Ortho, and of 99.7% in the assay from Abbott.


CONCLUSIONS
The 4 anti-HTLV-I + II ELISAs studied were appropriate as screening tests.
Vrielink
H
H
Red Cross Blood Bank Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. BLBADAM@COMPUSERV.COM
Reesink
H
H
Habibuw
M
M
Schuller
M
M
van der Meer
C
C
Lelie
P
P
D001782:Blood Donors; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D015486:HTLV-I Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D015487:HTLV-II Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D015486:HTLV-I Antigens; D015487:HTLV-II Antigens