Long-term stability of human immunodeficiency virus viral load and infectivity in whole blood.
BACKGROUND
We intended to evaluate the stability of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 virions in whole blood and in culture medium.


METHODS
EDTA whole-blood samples taken from 12 patients were left at room temperature for up to 7 days, and aliquots of a laboratory virus stock spiked in EDTA, in heparinized or in citrated whole blood, with or without the addition of Triton X-100, or spiked in culture medium were left at room temperature for up to 120 days before plasma was separated and frozen at -80 degrees C. Viral load was measured for all frozen plasma samples using different viral load assays. p24 antigen and infectivity were also measured in the spiked samples.


RESULTS
The patient whole-blood samples did not show any decrease in viral load during this 7-day period. The spiked samples decayed by not more than 1 log after 120 days (about 4 months), with the fastest decay in medium. Virus infectivity decayed very slowly from 20,000 units mL-1 to undetectable amounts after 56 days.


CONCLUSIONS
These results indicate that HIV-1 virions in whole blood possess a long-term stability in terms of viral load, p24 antigen level and infectivity, which is not sufficiently recognized by laboratory and health care workers.
Vandamme
A M
AM
Rega Institute for Medical Research, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. vandamme@uz.kuleuven.ac.be
Van Laethem
K
K
Schmit
J C
JC
Van Wijngaerden
E
E
Reynders
M
M
Debyser
Z
Z
Witvrouw
M
M
Van Ranst
M
M
De Clercq
E
E
Desmyter
J
J
D005615:Freezing; D016655:HIV Core Protein p24 / Q000097:blood; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood* / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006801:Humans; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors; D019562:Viral Load
D016655:HIV Core Protein p24; D012367:RNA, Viral