AN OUTBREAK OF TYPE B HEPATITIS ASSOCIATED WITH TRANSFUSION OF PLASMA PROTEIN FRACTION

• Published in: American journal of epidemiology 1976-04, Vol.103 (4), p.399-407
• Main Authors: PATTISON, CHARLES P, KLEIN, CALVIN A., LEGER, RONALD T, MAYNARD, JAMES E., BERQUIST, KENNETH R., HOOFNAGLE, JAY H, BARKER, LEWELLYS F., BRYAN, JOHN A, SMITH, DAVID E
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibodies, Viral; Blood Proteins; blood transfusion; disease outbreaks; hepatitis; Hepatitis B - epidemiology; Hepatitis B - transmission; Hepatitis B Antigens; Humans; Middle Aged; plasma protein fractions; post-transfusion; serology; Transfusion Reaction; type B
• ISSN: 0002-9262; 1476-6256
• DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a112239

An outbreak of type B hepatitis followed transfusion with a single lot of plasma protein fraction (PPF) at a 1200-bed hospital in June and July 1973. Of 51 recipients of the product, 31 were available as a study population and 19 (61%) had an illness compatible with hepatitis. Epidemiologic and sero-logic investigations provided firm evidence that this material was the vehicle for transmission of disease to its recipients. Recipients of four other PPF lots from the same manufacturer were studied. Two of these lots were also associated with extremely high clinical hepatitis attack rates (45% and 55%). The other tw6 lots, which had been prepared from donor plasma contributing to the composition of the initially-studied PPF lot, failied to produce clinical illness, although one of these lots was associated with a high prevalence of hepatitis B seropositivity in recipients. Thus, a broad spectrum of clinical and serologic responses was evident in PPF produced from similar donor plasma and pasteurized in the same bulk container. This study is the first to incriminate heat-treated PPF in transmission of type B hepatitis and suggests the need for further studies of the effect of pasteurization cycles on inactiva-tion of hepatitis B virus.