The Stability of Hepatitis B Virus Antigen and HBV-DNA Contents in Injectable Drug Solutions

Abstract

The infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) has long been a problem in the multiusage of injectable drug solutions with the contamination of HBV. However, there is still no experimental evidence of an infection by HBV blood cross contamination, except for epidemiological analyses. Moreover, the stability of HBV antigen and HBV-DNA contents in injectable drug solutions has not yet been analyzed. Therefore, the stability of HBV antigen and HBV-DNA in injectable drug solution (saline, heparin, 1% lidocaine, 1% heparin in saline) for 7 days under 4°C after dilution of HBe positive patients serum with each solution was investigated in this study. The HBe antigen and HBV-DNA contents showed no decrease for 7 days. Although the relationship between HBe antigen or HBV-DNA and infection ability, has yet to be elucidated, that drawing blood from an HBV carrier clearly requires extreme care.