No evidence of LAV infection in the Republic of Liberia, West Africa, in the year 1973

Abstract

Sera collected 13 years ago from 592 residents of the Republic of Liberia have been tested for antibodies to LAV polypeptides. 7 sera were positive by ELISA using two commercially available test kits whereas immunoblotting did not confirm antibodies specific for LAV.

PIP: Liberian sera collected in 1973 from 592 residents of agricultural and iron ore mining companies were tested for LAV (HTLV-III), now known as HIV, by ELISA and western blotting, and no positives were found. The ELISA tests were kits from ELAVIA, Institute Pasteur, France, and VIRAMED, Electro Nucleonics, USA, and the immunoblot method was that of Towbin et al. The subjects included 430 men and non-pregnant women who had no positive findings, and 162 pregnant women at parturition, of whom 7 had positive ELISAs but negative confirmatory western blots. This population had high rates of onchocerciasis, hepatitis B, nematodes, Schistosomas, Marburg virus and Ebola virus.