HEPATITIS-A VIRUS-INFECTION AMONG THE HEMOPHILIA POPULATION AT THE BONN-HEMOPHILIA-CENTER

Following a publication on the sudden outbreak of hepatitis A (HAV) in fections in Italian hemophiliacs after treatment with a solvent deterg ent (S/D) virus-inactivated factor VIII concentrate, we retrospectivel y examined our patients for HAV seroconversions and clinical symptoms of an acute HAV infection at our center. We found that between 1988 an d 1992, 17 hemophilia A patients displayed HAV IgG seroconversions. Of these patients, 13 also had an HAV IgM seroconversion and 10 exhibite d clinical symptoms of an acute HAV infection. A feature common to all was the fact that in the months prior to seroconversion they had been treated exclusively with the S/D-virus-inactivated product Octavi man ufactured by Octapharma in Dusseldorf (FRG). None of the hemophilia A patients who had been treated with other products and who were suscept ible to hepatitis A displayed seroconversion in the above-mentioned ti me span.