Correlation of antibodies to LAV/HTLV III in hemophiliacs with the use of virus-inactivated clotting factors.

The retrovirus LAV/HTLV III, highly likely to be responsible for the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in some recipients of blood products, can be inactivated by chemical and/or heat treatment, so the use of virus-inactivated factor VIII and factor IX preparations for treating hemophilia A and B has become important. We examined hemophilic children and found that those children treated since 1979 with virus-inactivated preparations did not develop antibodies against LAV/HTLV III. In contrast, 77% of patients treated with conventional factor VIII or factor IX preparations had antibodies against this virus.