Antibodies to human immuno-deficiency virus and human T-cell leukemia virus type I in Japanese patients with hematologic malignancies.

One thousand six hundred and seventy-four blood samples drawn between January 1980 and April 1986 from 1454 Japanese, including 251 leukemia, 409 lymphoma, 76 adult T-cell leukemia and 25 benign lymphadenitis patients, were tested for antibodies to HIV and HTLV-I. No patient with lymphadenitis or lymphoma associated with HIV infection was found. In 87 patients with acute and chronic leukemias who had received multiple transfusions, 8 were positive for anti-HTLV-I antibody after blood transfusions amounting to 115 units, on average, while no patient was positive for anti-HIV antibody. Overall, no sample was positive for anti-HIV antibody, whereas 153 (10.5%) were positive for anti-HTLV-I antibody. These results indicate that the transmission of HIV by blood transfusions is far less prevalent than that of HTLV-I in Tokyo at present.