Substantial HEV reduction during processes commonly used in the manufacturing of plasma products was demonstrated, similar to that previously demonstrated for HAV.

We analysed by neutralisation assay 55 intravenous immunoglobulin preparations produced from human plasma collected in three central European countries, specifically Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic, from 2006 to 2010. The preparations from 2009 and 2010 contained increasing titres of neutralising antibodies against West Nile virus (WNV) in the absence of reported human WNV cases in these countries.

Patients with primary immunodeficiency (PIDs) depend on the presence of a variety of antibody specificities in intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). Using the tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), geographic variability in IVIG antibody content was shown. Care should therefore be exercised when treating PIDs in a given geography, as only locally sourced plasma contains the antibody specificities against the circulating pathogens in the given locality. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) contains the pooled antibodies (Abs) from at least 3,000 to 60,000 healthy blood and plasma donors (10). One of the main areas of IVIG application is as Ab replacement therapy in patients with primary immunodeficiency (PIDs) (22). These persons critically depend on the presence of a variety of antibody specificities in IVIG, which ensures continued protection against any infectious agent they might encounter. As IVIG is manufactured from the variable resource human plasma, lot-to-lot variation in Ab levels of IVIG products are inevitable and have been reported (18). In addition, the Ab content in IVIG differs depending on the geographic origin of the plasma that was used in manufacture: U.S.-sourced (US-IVIG) or European Union-sourced (EU-IVIG) IVIG contains significantly different Ab levels against hepatitis A virus (8, 21), West Nile virus (WNV) (25), cytomegalovirus (21,27), and the different echovirus serotypes (24), with some evidence of a difference in Ab content for measles and rubella (21). The reason for this geographic variability in IVIG Ab content is often not clear, yet one of the more obvious variables affecting the quantity and specificity of Abs in IVIG is the endemicity of a pathogen, where a change in the temporal or geographic pattern of virus circulation affects the antibody content of the final IVIG. When a virus or microbial agent is expanding its geographical range, exposure of the formerly naïve population to this novel agent is reflected in the Ab content of IVIG. This was demonstrated, e.g., for US-IVIG after the introduction of WNV into the United States in 1999 (4,25,31) and recently also for EU-IVIG, where increasing WNV-neutralizing Ab titers were detected in EU-IVIG lots manufactured after 2009, even though no human WNV infections have yet been reported from the countries in which the plasma was sourced (31).To further increase the understanding of the geographical difference in IVIG Ab content, we determined the neutralizing Ab titers of IVIG preparations for tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV). This member of the Flaviviridae, for which three subtypes (European, Siberian, and Far Eastern) are distinguished, may cause tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), a potentially serious neurological disease with high fever and encephalitis (33), while 70 to 95% of human infections in regions in which the virus is endemic are either subclinical or totally asymptomatic (12). During the last 30 years, TBE morbidity has increased by 400% in Europe (36), and TBEV is currently expanding from its geographical range in Central...

BACKGROUND Wild‐type poliovirus may be eradicated soon and under WHO GAPIII guidance, laboratory use will be discontinued or subject to strict containment. Per US Code of Federal Regulations, however, immunoglobulin lot release testing will still require use of replicating poliovirus. The suitability of S19 hyper‐attenuated and apathogenic poliovirus strains as alternatives to the currently used wild‐type virus in such a release assay was investigated. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS S19 poliovirus strains were propagated in a commercial setting using good virological practices and maintenance of the S19 hyper‐attenuated genotype was confirmed by massively parallel sequencing. RESULTS The attenuated phenotype of the produced S19 stocks was confirmed in a highly sensitive mouse‐model. Equivalency in performance was seen in the lot release assay for the S19 and wild‐type polioviruses. CONCLUSION The deployment of such hyper‐attenuated and thoroughly characterized S19 stocks in these and other essential activities might reconcile final containment measures with continued safe use of poliovirus.