PRELIMINARY-REPORT ON AN AUTOMATED SCREENING-TEST FOR DETECTION OF ANTIBODY TO HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS TYPE-1 IN WHOLE-BLOOD

We developed and evaluated an automated screening test for antibody to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) using EDTA-2Na-treated whole blood and an extract of paper disk-absorbed dried whole blood from 60 hemophiliacs infected with HIV-1 and 210 diseased and healthy controls. The specificity and the sensitivity of this system were judged to be 100% with both the whole blood and the extract. This test allows measurement of HIV-1 antibody in whole blood and dried whole blood on a small paper disk and gives a result within 13 minutes; the system can process 150 samples per hour. Therefore, it may be useful at many testing sites, such as emergency departments, intensive care units, blood banks, and commercial laboratories, as well as for mail-order testing from remote areas and developing countries.