Letters
Hepatitis C and haemophilia
EDITOR,--In her editorial on hepatitis C and haemophilia Christine A Lee states that recombinant factor VIII "cannot transmit bloodborne viruses."1 Although this belief is widely held, it is not correct. All biological substances can harbour infectious agents, and consequently all biopharmaceutical products carry some risk of infection, however small. Recombinant factor VIII is prepared from mammalian cell lines containing viral DNA2; in addition, substances of bovine, murine, and human origin may be used at several stages in the manufacturing process.3 Even when technology that inactivates viruses is used, each of these substances has at least a theoretical risk of transmitting infectious agents.
Haemophiliac patients were infected with hepatitis C before effective technologies to inactivate viruses had been developed and at a time when the risk and severity of viral infections from coagulation factor concentrates were not fully appreciated.4 The degree of safety of plasma derived concentrates in which viruses
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- Hepatitis C and haemophilia
- Christine A Lee
BMJ 1995 310: 1619-1620.[Extract] [Full Text]
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