Prevalence of antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 among blood donors prior to screening, The Transfusion Safety Study/NHLBI Donor Repository

Abstract

The Transfusion Safety Study (TSS) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) established a repository of approximately 200,000 sera from blood donors in late 1984 and early 1985. Collections were made in the four metropolitan areas with the highest prevalence of AIDS. Retrospective testing showed an overall anti‐HIV‐1 prevalence of 16 cases per 10,000 donations. In this study, the predictive value of a negative initial enzyme‐linked immunoassay was estimated from both quality control specimens and the rescreening of 13,461 sera to be >99.99 percent with respect to technical error. Among anti‐HIV‐1‐positive persons, there was a 1.3‐ to 1.5‐fold excess of first‐time donors. The anti‐HIV‐1 prevalence among donors showed that infection was more common among young men than suggested by national reporting of AIDS cases. Anti‐HIV‐1 prevalence varied among the four metropolitan areas less than did reported AIDS cases, but, by 1987, the differences in the latter had decreased. Anti‐HIV‐1 prevalence in collection areas outside of the four major cities differed much more widely than that among the cities themselves. The TSS/NHLBI Donor Repository will remain available for the indefinite future for further evaluation of screening procedures for HIV‐1 and other viruses for which transfusion is found to be an important route of transmission.