Virus inactivation and prevalence of GBV‐C in haemophiliacs

Abstract

Summary.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.

Comparison of GB virus C, HIV, and HCV infection markers in hemophiliacs exposed to non-inactivated or inactivated factor concentrates

“…The prevalence of GBV-C markers in group A was significantly higher than in group B (40.3% versus 5.3%; p < 0.0001). These data were consistent with studies of hemophilia cohorts in Germany (Nübling et al, 1997;Uhle et al, 1997) and other European countries (De Filippi et al, 1997;Gerolami et al, 1997;Tassies et al, 1999). Since in all these studies as well as in our study, the investigated blood samples were collected in the mid 1990s, the achieved data were comparable.…”