Premium
Virus inactivation and prevalence of GBV‐C in haemophiliacs
Author(s) -
Uhle Christian,
Zimmermann Rainer,
Goeser Tobias,
Seelig Renate
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
british journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.907
H-Index - 186
eISSN - 1365-2141
pISSN - 0007-1048
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2141.1997.4883292.x
Subject(s) - virology , medicine
A new putative hepatitis virus has recently been discovered and termed GB virus C (GBV‐C). We investigated the prevalence of this virus among 50 haemophiliacs treated with non‐virus‐inactivated clotting factor concentrates prior to 1985 and 21 haemophiliacs treated exclusively with virus‐inactivated clotting factor concentrates. In the first group the prevalence of GBV‐C based on PCR and ELISA was 46%. In the second group the prevalence of GBV‐C was similar to that of healthy blood donors (5%). We therefore conclude that GBV‐C is reliably inactivated by modern virucidal methods such as vapour heating, pasteurization and treatment with solvent/detergent mixtures.