Patent ID: 6824977
Filing Date: 2004-11-30
Classification: C12Q,G01N

Abstract:
A method for screening healthy blood donors or potenial blood donors for carriers of diseases or conditions related to at least one of HTLV-I and HTLV-II infections comprising:testing a sample from a donor or a potential donor for the presence of a DNA SEQ ID NO: 1 or SEQ ID NO: 2 respectively which encodes the HTLV-I tax protein or the HTLV-II tax protein; wherein a positive test for the presence of a DNA which encodes the HTLV-I tax protein or the HTLV-II tax protein indicates the presence of: a. at least one of HTLV-I tax protein or HTLV-II tax protein; b. DNA which encodes at least one of HTLV-I tax protein or HTLV-II tax protein; and c. antibodies specific to at least one of HTLV-I tax protein or HTLV-II tax protein; and if the test for at least one of (a), (b), or (c) is positive, concluding that the donor or potential donor is a carrier of a disease or condition relate to at least one of HTLV-I or HTLV-II infection; wherein the donor or potential donor had not been tested for antibodies to at least one of HTLV-I or HTLV-II.