Assessment of HTLV III screening tests in Christchurch

The Christchurch Hospital blood bank has assessed commercial kits designed to test blood donations for the presence of antibody to the retrovirus responsible for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Twenty of 1002 blood donations have been found to be repeatably, positive by one or more of these commercial kits. None was positive by the Western blot technique. Certain patient groups were found to have an elevated number of false positive reactions. Extreme caution is advised when interpreting screening test kit results from donor populations at low risk of AIDS.