Detection of HTLV-III antibody in cerebrospinal fluid from patients with AIDS and pre-AIDS with the use of a commercial test system.

Sixty-one paired sera and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens were tested for the presence of human T-cell lymphotropic virus/lymphadenopathy-associated virus (HTLV-III) antibodies. Of 16 sera negative for HTLV-III antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), the corresponding CSF results were also negative. Forty-two of 45 (93%) CSF specimens tested (in which the corresponding sera were HTLV-III antibody positive) were positive by ELISA. Western blot analysis (WB) of 24 paired specimens, as well as retrospectively acquired case histories, confirmed the results obtained by ELISA.