HTLV-I in HIV seropositive Indian blood donors

One hundred HIV seropositive blood donors were screened for the presence of antibodies to HTLV-I by passive agglutination test from 1994 to 1996. Thirty two percent of the HIV-I seropositive blood donors were found to be positive for HTLV-I (Titre 1:16). Only Six percent of the HIV-seronegative donors were found to be positive for HTLV-I indicating thereby that it should be mandatory to screen all the blood samples for transfusion for HTLV-I antibodies also.