AUTHOR=Steinmann Jochen , Steinmann Joerg , Steinmann Eike 

TITLE=The Heat Stability of Hepatitis B Virus: A Chronological Review From Human Volunteers and Chimpanzees to Cell Culture Model Systems

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2020

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-and-infection-microbiology/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2020.00032

DOI=10.3389/fcimb.2020.00032

ISSN=2235-2988

ABSTRACT=Experiments of human serum with volunteers and chimpanzees led to the conclusion that the hepatitis B virus (HBV), which had been identified as the responsible agent of the contamination of vaccines, could not be inactivated at 98 °C after one minute, whereas two minutes in two chimpanzees were enough. Meanwhile, a cell culture system became available showing that two minutes exposure time is not enough depending on the virus strain used whereas five minutes means complete inactivation. The great stability of the blood-borne HBV was also of interest in hospital hygiene due to the use of moist heat for disinfection of heat-stable medical devices in washer-disinfectants. The requirements for washer-disinfectors and the parameters describing disinfection with moist heat are defined in the EN ISO 15883. In this standard, the efficacy of this thermal disinfection is described by the A0 value. For heat-resistant viruses a higher A0 = 3,000 is often recommended including semi-critical instruments that undergo thermal disinfection and no final sterilization. All experiments including volunteers, chimpanzees and now cell culture were performed with greater A0 values than 3,000. Therefore, an A0 value of 3,000 e.g. being reached by 90 °C and 5 minutes in washer-disinfectants, can easily elevated to 6,000 by prolongation of the exposure time to ten minutes. In contrast to the different laboratory experiments with high virus titers it should be considered that in practice the necessary cleaning step upfront will help to reduce virus load and then protect the personnel in the medical area.