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Dr Gunson said in a Central Blood Laboratories Authority meeting that "if the United Kingdom needed to be converted for enzyme testing it would pose a serious problem for the continuance of RIA testing. It was therefore considered vital that a British test be developed."

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Dr Smithies said that the Department of Health was "taking all practical steps" to introduce HTLV-3 testing for people with haemophilia and also added that the evaluation was still at the preliminary stage of "arranging that all tests for antibody to HTLV-III should be evaluated in order that recommendation can be made of the most suitable to use in the blood transfusion services and also by the NHS.".

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A report on the results of the Food and Drug Administration evaluation of HTLV-3 antibody screening tests stated that a large number of false positive tests were liable to be produced, and underlined a need for there to be a comparative evaluation of the tests.

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The Department of Health and Social Security maintained its stance on "firm plans to evaluate all the anti-HTLVIII kits that are marketed in the UK and this work will be started as soon as possible. An evaluation protocol is being devised and when it is ready all companies in the field will be given the opportunity to comment on it."

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Dr Tedder, Professor Weiss and Professor Adler confirmed that though their test worked reasonably well as a laboratory tool, adequate scaling up was still to be achieved if it was to be used. It was agreed that it would probably be necessary for the Blood Transfusion Service to go ahead and use the first successful test that became available.

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The Expert Advisory Group on AIDS Screening Tests Sub Group Report on the Introduction of a Test for Antibody to the AIDS Related Virus was published.

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Alun Williams wrote to Mr Harris and Ms McKessack, correcting John Patten's statement in Parliament that "we hope to have a screening test within a few weeks". Alun Williams stated: "It would be more accurate to say that we hope to begin evaluating screening tests within the next few weeks."

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The chairman of the EAGA said in a meeting that while it was important to introduce a reliable screening test as soon as possible "an effective evaluation of the tests was essential and should not be rushed". Professor Bloom was the only person who was recorded as expressing concern regarding the delay of introducing a reliable screening test.

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Professor Bloom, Dr Forbes and Dr Rizza concluded in a letter to The British Medical Officer that three commercial test kits had been approved by the FDA and although there was a small risk of false positives it was felt to be unreasonable to delay testing until that possibility was eliminated.

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Dr Harris wrote to Professor Bloom in response to his letter detailing concerns that the screening of blood should be introduced as soon as possible. Dr Harris stated that he accepted HTLV-3 testing should be completed as soon as possible, but that the performance of testing kits were variable. He wrote that they should be properly tested before introduction into the BTS and that this approach was supported by members of the EAGA.

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In a draft submission, circulated in the Department of Health and Social Security, it was recommended selecting a test following evaluation by the Public Health Laboratory Service and field trials in the Blood Transfusion Service. "This may take 5 months to implement" and "It might leave us without a screening test for up to 2 further months", although it was hoped field trials could be brought forward.

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Dr Acheson's note to John Patten exposed a lack of confidence among scientists at the Public Health Laboratory Service that the suppliers would be able to produce testing kits that were "reliable on a large scale and which would continue to be reliable on the shelf". He went on: "It would be worse to be in the position of having to withdraw a test once introduced than to be in our present position of carefully evaluating the tests."

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The World Health Organization had concluded at a conference that countries should "Screen, where feasible, potential donors of blood and plasma for antibody to LAV/HTLV-III".

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By May 1985 both plasma centres and blood banks in the US were testing donations for the presence of HIV antibodies.

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A draft preliminary report to a Department of Health and Social Security ad hoc group on the evaluation of commercial anti-HTLV-3/LAV assays provided the raw data arising from the initial evaluation for further discussion.

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EAGA recognised that "there was a degree of urgency for the introduction of routine anti-HTLV III screening of blood donations which precluded the completion of the National Blood Transfusion Service evaluation of different test kits prior to arrangements being undertaken for the introduction of routine screening".

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The Department of Health and Social Security issued a press release titled "Date set for AIDS screening test", which stated that John Patten had announced that screening should be introduced by mid October, and the test kits under trial were the Organon and Wellcome tests.

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A letter in The Lancet titled "HTLV III Antibody Screening of Blood Bank Donors" noted that with any screening test the problem lay with false positives. It was elucidated that this would have a significant impact both on blood supplies and on blood donors, as seropositive blood would be discarded and donors would be notified of their results.

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The closing submission of NHS Blood and Transplant to the Infected Blood Inquiry noted that, given the general agreement that testing be introduced as soon as possible, it was unfortunate that the first stage of the review was not completed at an earlier stage.

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The New Scientist published an article titled "Ministers delayed launch of AIDS test". It reported Abbott Laboratories' accusation that the British government delayed approval until a British test was available.

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