Detection of anti-HTLV-III/LAV antibody by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in high-risk individuals in Switzerland 1974-1985.

Anti-HTLV-III antibody was tested in frozen sera from high-risk individuals, collected between 1974 and 1985 in Switzerland. All but one of the 262 sera of a control group were negative. Among drug addicts, none of the 78 samples collected from 1974 to 1979 was positive. Antibody was first detected in 1980 and thereafter with progressively increasing frequency. Three of 63 samples from 24 dialyzed patients who had received multiple transfusions showed borderline positive values. None of the seropositive subjects has developed AIDS or AIDS-related complex.