Lefrère J J, Couroucé A M, Lucotte G, Boitard C, Kaplan C, Nicolas J C, Bricout F, Lambin P, Doinel C, Muller J Y
Institut National de Transfusion Sanguine, Paris, France.
AIDS. 1988 Aug;2(4):287-90. doi: 10.1097/00002030-198808000-00008.
Systematic screening of blood donations by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for HIV antibodies carries a false-positive rate: the sera involved react in Western blot to core antigens (p24 or p17) but reactivity to envelope is absent. We studied 22 subjects with persistent and isolated anti-core reactivities; 75 HIV seropositive patients were controls. The epidemiological data and the follow-up and biological tests performed in these two populations argue that donors with persistent and isolated anti-core antibodies are not seroconverting for HIV. We conclude: (1) that verification of all anti-HIV ELISA-positive sera by Western blot is essential and that the presence of at least once anti-envelope (gp120 or gp41) antibody is indispensable for the diagnosis of HIV infection; (2) that the solitary anti-p24 or anti-p17 bands observed on Western blot are false-positive. There is no evidence that donors with such reactivities are HIV-infected.
