Abstract
We examined serum anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibody in 87 hemophiliacs, 86 patients with various diseases who had recieved high-dose immunoglobulin therapy or multiple blood transfusions, and health-care workers. In hemophiliacs, 31.0% of patients are HIV antibody positive by both enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Western blot analysis. In others, HIV antibody was positive by ELISA in two infants but negative by subsequent Western blot analysis. All other patients and health-care workers were found to be HIV antibody negative. Our data suggest that HIV infection through transfusion of blood products except for the coagulation factor products is rare in Japan. However, we consider that possibility of transfusion-associated HIV infection still remains, and we must be alert to this unfavorable complication of blood transfusion.
