Heat sensitivity of a SARS-associated coronavirus introduced into plasma products.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Various measures to inactivate/remove viruses have been implemented for manufacturing plasma-derived products. Here, we examined the heat inactivation ability of an agent of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), SARS coronavirus (CoV).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Frankfurt-1 strain of SARS-CoV was incorporated in manufacturing processes of several products by using samples collected immediately before liquid heat treatment at 60 degrees C.

RESULTS: SARS-CoV was easily inactivated by this treatment for 60 min in all in-process samples. However, the different composition of the tested samples affected the heat sensitivity of the virus strain: the infectivity of the virus in Antithrombin III preparation still remained after heating for 30 min at 60 degrees C.

CONCLUSION: If by rare chance SARS-CoV contaminates source plasma, there should be no or only minor risk of this virus infection, due to sufficient inactivation by the 60 degrees C 10 h liquid heating step, although we must pay attention to the composition used for blood product preparation.