Carriers of hepatitis virus in the blood and viral hepatitis in whole blood recipients. II. Confirmation of carrier state by transmission experiments in volunteers.

In view of the observations that post-transfusion hepatitis developed in 14 recipients of whole blood, proof of a relationship between such hepatic disturbances and a blood carrier state of hepatitis virus in the donors was sought. Although much evidence supporting such a carrier state was obtained from laboratory tests, it was felt that final proof could be obtained only in the results of transmission experiments carried out in human volunteers. Eight donors, for recipients who received a single transfusion and in whom hepatitis later developed, were chosen for these tests. Blood serum was collected from donors 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, and 8 (described in detail in part 1 of this paper) at the most recent follow-up examination (table 4) in order to provide a maximum time interval between the original donation, which was followed by hepatitis in the recipient, and the transmission experiments. With respect to the serum specimens