HTLV-I antibody screening in donated blood and thalassemic patients.

The HTLV-I antibody screening by passive partial agglutination test, Serodia HTLV-I (Fuji-rebio Inc) was performed in a total of 1,225 male and 468 female blood donors from September 1992 to March 1993. In addition, a total of 64 multitransfused thalassemic patients were also studied. All of the sera from donors and patients in both study groups showed no reactive results for HTLV-I antibody. This finding indicated that the HTLV-I infection is not yet a problem in blood transfusion in Thailand. However, the scattered reports of HTLV-I infections from our region should urge the national authority on the surveillance of this infection by epidemiological survey and occasional screening in blood donors.