Blood Test for AIDS/ HIV Infection
"The HTLV-III produced by cultured T cells from patients with AIDS and pre-AIDS is highly infectious and can be readily transmitted to fresh umbilical blood and adult peripheral blood or bone marrow lymphocytes." - Robert C. Gallo et al
In May 1983, doctors at the Institute Pasteur in France reported that they had isolated a new virus, which they suggested might be the cause of AIDS and named it as lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV) or Human T Lymphocyte Virus (HTLV-III).
U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licensed for commercial production, the first blood test for AIDS in the year 1983. The test would reveal the presence of antibodies against HTLV-III/LAV, and it was announced that anyone who had antibodies in their blood would not be allowed to donate blood in the future. At the end of 1985 the first report appeared talking in detail about the transmission of the virus from mother to child through breast feeding. In May 1986, the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses solved the dispute and named the virus HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). By the end of 1986, almost 85 countries had reported 38,401 cases of AIDS to the World Health Organisation.
