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Jay S. Pepose, MD, PhD
The Wilmer Institute The Johns Hopkins Hospital Baltimore

Francisco S. Pardo, MD; Elizabeth Donegan, MD
University of California, San Francisco, Hospital and Clinics

Thomas C. Quinn, MD
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases National Institutes of Health Bethesda, Md

JAMA. 1986;256(7):864.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

Approximately 25 000 corneal transplants are performed annually in the United States.¹ Demographic studies based on data from eye banks in California and Maryland indicate that the mean age of donors used for transplantation is 34.5 years and the male-to-female ratio is 3:1. Of these donor corneas, 78.2% were obtained from medical examiner's offices, 21.4% from hospitals, and 0.4% from funeral homes.² In many urban areas, single males who meet violent deaths make up a significant portion of donors and only a minimal medical history may be available. Such donors may come from groups at high risk for harboring human T-cell lymphotropic virus type III (HTLV-III) infection.

The efficacy of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) to detect antibodies against HTLV-III has been well established for testing premortem serum samples,³ but not for testing postmortem samples to screen potential organ donors (eg, cornea or kidney donors). . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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