Hepatitis Following the Use of Irradiated Human Plasma

There is abundant evidence that human plasma may transmit a virus causing hepatitis. No known method of excluding donors or treating whole blood is capable of eliminating this virus. Healthy carriers exist. We studied one such donor who transmitted the virus to 2 patients in a six months' interval yet who gave no history or clinical or laboratory evidence of any liver disease. In the hope of making plasma, at least, free of virus, irradiation with ultraviolet rays has been employed. In the basic work done by Blanchard and co-workers, 1 the following experiment was done: Portions of the same known icterogenic plasma, some irradiated and some untreated, were injected into volunteers. Of 15 volunteers receiving 4 cc. of untreated plasma intramuscularly, overt or presumptive hepatitis developed in 7. Of 11 volunteers receiving 7 cc. of irradiated plasma, none showed clinical or laboratory evidence of the disease. On the basis