[Biological studies and research of immunologic deficiencies in blood donors from a prison environment]

The prison population may be considered as a population at risk for AIDS. Biological parameters were studied in order to detect significant anomalies commonly observed in AIDS patients. With respect to are age matched control population of donors, there are no statistically significant differences concerning the nutritional and inflammatory states of the two populations. The investigation of the humoral immunity shows comparable levels of circulating antibodies in the two groups: a high level of anti-cytomegalovirus and anti-herpes antibodies is more frequently found in the penal population. The markers for hepatitis B were also studied. None of the individuals is a carrier of the HBs antigen. The percentage of individuals having biological markers of hepatitis B is higher in the at risk group (45%) than in the control group (10%). The evaluation of the cell-mediated immunity shows that there are no significant differences between the mean values found in the two groups for OKT3, T11, OKT4 and OKT8. There is no inversed OKT4/OKT8 ratio in the at risk group while one donor in the control group shows an inversed OKT4/OKT8 ratio.