Screening haemodialysis patients for infection with human immune deficiency virus (HIV)

A group of 484 patients having regular haemodialysis was tested for the presence of antibodies to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). With a commercial enzyme-linked immunoassay kit, the serum of 17 appeared positive. When these 17 samples were retested by a different method, however, none was found to contain antibodies to the virus. Furthermore, evaluation of the clinical state of these 17 patients for the presence of any prodromal symptoms associated with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome was negative. It is therefore suggested that patients having regular haemodialysis are presently at low risk of contracting infection by HIV. By contrast, 81% of these patients had antibodies to cytomegalovirus.