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Follow‐up of four HIV‐infected individuals after administration of hepatitis C virus and GBV‐C/hepatitis G virus contaminated intravenous immunoglobulin: Evidence for HCV but not for GBV‐C/HGV transmission
Author(s) -
Berger Annemarie,
Doerr Hans Wilhelm,
Scharrer Inge,
Weber Bernard
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1096-9071(199709)53:1<25::aid-jmv5>3.0.co;2-s
Subject(s) - virology , medicine , seroconversion , gb virus c , antibody , flaviviridae , virus , hepatitis c virus , viral disease , transmission (telecommunications) , immunology , electrical engineering , engineering
In 1994, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection was transmitted to four HIV seropositive patients attending the Department of Angiology, University Clinics, Frankfurt am Main, by the administration of Gammagard®. The patients were suffering from thrombocytopenia and received betweeen 20 and 30 g of the contaminated lot 93F21AB11. GBV‐C/HGV RNA could be amplified from the Gammagard® lot 93F21AB11 using 5′NCR and NS5 primer pairs. All the four patients were negative in the GBV‐C/HGV RT‐PCR prior to therapy and until the end of the follow‐up period. GBV‐C/HGV IgG antibodies to the putative envelope (E2) were detected using the E2 HGV‐env kit (Boehringer‐Mannheim, Germany) in Gammagard® lot 93F21AB11 and in one patient before donation of immunoglobulin. Anti‐E2 seroconversion was observed in one recipient, the other two patients remained anti‐E2 seronegative until the end of the observation period. It is concluded that there is no direct evidence for transmission of GBV‐C/HGV by contaminated intravenous immunoglobulin since GBV‐C/HGV RNA was not detected in the recipients up to 1 year after administration. J. Med. Virol. 53:25–30, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.