Screening of blood donors for the detection of antitetanus antibodies suitable for the production of human antitetanus immunoglobulin.

During a 12-month period, 40 146 blood donors were tested for the presence of high titre antitetanus antibodies. An attempt has been made to define the most suitable donors, those with antitetanus antibody titres of 4 IU/ml or above, by virtue of titre, sex, location, and length of time since most recent immunisation. Particular note is made of those donors from university sessions. Towards the end of the series, donors who had an initially acceptable level of antitetanus antibody were being tested a second time.