HIV-ANTIBODY DETECTION IN VITREOUS-HUMOR AND SERUM BY ENZYME IMMUNOSORBENT-ASSAY AND PARTICLE AGGLUTINATION-TEST

Purpose, To compare enzyme immunosorbent assay (EIA) and the particle agglutination (PA) test for the detection of antibodies to the human i mmunodeficiency virus (HIV) in cadaveric vitreous humor and serum. Met hods, Seventeen cadavers presenting pathologic signs of acquired immun odeficiency syndrome (AIDS) at autopsy and 33 without AIDS signs were evaluated. Consistency (kappa) and significance (p) between the diagno stic tests were established. Results, The right and left eyes of each of 48 bilaterally tested cadavers presented identical diagnostic resul ts in all laboratory tests. All tests were positive for antibodies in the AIDS cadavers except for two EIA-negative vitreous results. Three autopsy-negative cadavers showed by both EIA and PA testing positive r esults in serum and negative in vitreous. Two of them showed a serum-p ositive Western blot. Conclusion, Serum EIA anti-HIV antibody detectio n test is the current gold standard for evaluating corneal donor mater ial. Neither the PA test nor EIA should be used for vitreous testing b ecause of their low sensitivity.