Current Trends Results of Human T-Lymphotropic Virus Type
III Test Kits Reported from Blood Collection Centers --
United States, April 22,-May 19, 1985
In March 1983, the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) recommended
that members of groups at increased risk for acquired
immunodeficiency
syndrome (AIDS) refrain from donating plasma and/or blood (1). The
recommendation was made to decrease the risk of AIDS associated
with
the administration of blood or blood products, which accounts for
about 2% of all reported AIDS cases in the United States (2).
Since that recommendation, evidence has shown that a newly
recognized retrovirus, human T-lymphotropic virus type III
(HTLV-III),
is the cause of AIDS (3-5). An ELISA test designed to detect
antibody
to HTLV-III was developed. A previous report described serologic
surveys with use of this test (6). In January 1985, the PHS issued
provisional recommendations for screening donated blood and plasma
for
antibody to HTLV-III (6). In early March, ELISA test kits
developed
for detecting antibody to HTLV-III in donated blood and plasma were
licensed and made commercially available.
The American Red Cross, the Council of Community Blood Centers,
and the American Association of Blood Banks have provided data on
test
kit results for the 4-week period April 22, to May 19, 1985.
During
this period, 131 blood centers and banks reported results from
screening 593,831 units of blood. An initially reactive test was
found for 5,313 units (0.89%); 1,484 units (0.25%) were repeatedly
reactive.* Repeatedly reactive rates varied by region of the
country,
ranging from 0.08% to 0.32% (Table 1).
Reported by the American Red Cross; Council of Community Blood
Centers; American Association of Blood Banks; Office of
Epidemiology
and Biostatistics, Center for Drugs and Biologics, U.S. Food and
Drug
Administration.
Editorial Note
Editorial Note: The data shown represent about 70% of all blood
collected in the United States during the 1-month period. They
demonstrate rapid implementation of HTLV-III antibody screening
nationally. Since these data represent initial results of testing
by
many centers, future results may vary. It is not possible from
these
data to determine how many of the repeatedly reactive samples
represent true HTLV-III infection or are false positives.
Additional
data correlating screening results and other test methods, such as
Western blot, will be presented at a conference sponsored by CDC,
the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of
Health (NIH) to be held at NIH on July 31, 1985. Organizations
wishing to send representatives to this conference or persons
wishing
to attend should contact one of the three agencies for additional
information.
References
CDC. Prevention of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS):
report of inter-agency recommendations. MMWR 1983;32:101-3.
CDC. Update: acquired immunodeficiency syndrome--United
States.
MMWR 1985;34:245-8.
Gallo RC, Salahuddin SZ, Popovic M, et al. Frequent detection
and
isolation of cytopathic retroviruses (HTLV-III) from patients
with
AIDS and at risk for AIDS. Science 1984;224:500-3.
Barre-Sinoussi F, Chermann JC, Rey F, et al. Isolation of a
T-lymphotropic retrovirus from a patient at risk for acquired
immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Science 1983;220:868-71.
Levy JA, Hoffman AD, Kramer SM, Landis JA, Shimabukuro JS,
Oshiro
LS. Isolation of lymphocytopathic retroviruses from San
Francisco
patients with AIDS. Science 1984;225:840-2.
CDC. Provisional Public Health Service inter-agency
recommendations for screening donated blood and plasma for
antibody to the virus causing acquired immunodeficiency
syndrome.
MMWR 1985;34:1-5.
*A sample that is reactive on two independent ELISA assays (done in
duplicate at the same time or singly at different times) is defined
as
repeatedly reactive. If tested three times, and found reactive
twice,
it is also defined as repeatedly reactive.
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