CARRIERS OF HEPATITIS VIRUS IN THE BLOOD AND VIRAL HEPATITIS IN WHOLE BLOOD RECIPIENTS

Abstract

In spite of intensive efforts to develop methods for the detection or inactivation of hepatitis virus in human whole blood and plasma, none has been satisfactorily proved to be uniformly effective to date.¹The clinical use of these indispensable therapeutic agents, particularly whole blood and plasma used for transfusion, continues to be associated with an ever-present risk of the serious complication of viral hepatitis. Until practical and dependable methods for detection or inactivation of hepatitis virus in blood and plasma become available, physicians are obligated to reserve their use of these materials for clinical conditions in which their potential value outweighs the risk of the potential complication of viral hepatitis, a decision that is not always easy to make. In recent years, while awaiting the development of such methods, an effort has been made to decrease the frequency of collection of blood contaminated with hepatitis virus by rejection of