Abstract.In a survey on 82,383 blood donor specimens from Hessen, West Germany, the observed percentage of repeatedly positive HTLV‐III/LAV antibody ELISA results was 0.2%, but only 0.018% were confirmed by Western blot, immunofluorescence assay or radioimmunoprecipitation assay. These data are consistent with larger epidemiological data compiled from other German blood banks and suggest a high degree of nonspecific false‐positive results; one of the causes for false‐positives are HLA‐DR4 antibodies, which react in the HTLV‐III/LAV test. Epidemiological data on 127 dialysis patients and 1,153 prison inmates are
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