Survival of a hepatitis C virus surrogate in anaesthetic and analgesic drugs

Abstract

The re-use of solutions used in surgical procedures provides an opportunity for transmission of infectious agents should a breakdown in good work practices occur. Agents that are blood-borne are particularly important in this respect. We examined whether a hepatitis C virus surrogate (bovine viral diarrhoeal virus) could survive exposure to Propafol and Fentanyl, drugs commonly used for induction of anaesthesia and analgesia, respectively. Testing involved the spiking of ampoules of these solutions with a high-titred preparation of virus. Following incubation of this mixture at ambient temperature for various periods of time, attempts were made to isolate the virus in cell cultures. Our results showed that the surrogate virus survived for up to 2 hours without loss of titre in these solutions, suggesting that the hepatitis C virus would also survive and could also be transmitted in a surgical setting under some circumstances.