Risk for Hepatitis E Virus Transmission by Solvent/Detergent-Treated Plasma

• Published in: Emerging infectious diseases Vol. 26; no. 12; pp. 2881 - 2886
• Main Authors: Gallian, Pierre, Lhomme, Sébastien, Morel, Pascal, Gross, Sylvie, Mantovani, Carole, Hauser, Lisette, Tinard, Xavier, Pouchol, Elodie, Djoudi, Rachid, Assal, Azzedine, Abravanel, Florence, Izopet, Jacques, Tiberghien, Pierre
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases 01.12.2020; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Subjects: Blood & organ donations; Blood Donors; Blood products; Contamination; Detergents; Detergents, Synthetic; Disease transmission; Food contamination & poisoning; Health aspects; Hepatitis; Hepatitis E; Hepatitis E / epidemiology; Hepatitis E / transmission; hepatitis E virus; Hepatitis E virus / genetics; HEV; Human health and pathology; Humans; Hépatology and Gastroenterology; Infections; Infectious diseases; Life Sciences; Patients; Plasma; Plasma products; Retrospective Studies; Risk factors; Risk for Hepatitis E Virus Transmission by Solvent/Detergent–Treated Plasma; RNA, Viral; Santé publique et épidémiologie; solvent/detergent–treated plasma; Solvents; Transfusion; transmission; Transplants & implants; viruses; France; blood donors; hepatitis E virus; viruses; transmission; solvent/detergent–treated plasma; HEV; zoonoses; France; plasma; infectious dose; retrospective study
• ISSN: 1080-6040; 1080-6059
• DOI: 10.3201/EID2612.191482

Hepatitis E has emerged as a major transfusion-transmitted infectious risk. Two recipients of plasma from 2 lots (A and B) of pooled solvent/detergent-treated plasma were found to be infected by hepatitis E virus (HEV) that was determined to have been transmitted by the solvent/detergent-treated plasma. HEV RNA viral loads were 433 IU in lot A and 55 IU in lot B. Retrospective studies found that 100% (13/13) of evaluable lot A recipients versus 18% (3/17) of evaluable lot B recipients had been infected by HEV (p<0.001), albeit not necessarily at time of transfusion. Among evaluable recipients, 86% with a transfused HEV RNA load >50,000 IU were infected, most likely by the HEV-containing solvent/detergent-treated plasma, versus only 7% with a transfused HEV RNA load <50,000 IU (p<0.001). Overall, solvent/detergent-treated plasma might harbor HEV. Such an occurrence might result in a dose-dependent risk for transfusion-transmitted hepatitis E.