Heat stability of parvovirus B19: kinetics of inactivation

Heat inactivation of parvovirus B19 (B19) was studied in a culture of hematopoietic progenitor cells generated in vitro from peripheral human blood. After inoculating cell cultures with identical volumes of plasma (MII) containing B19 (B19-MII) heat-treated (60 degrees C) for various periods of time, a time-dependent inactivation of the input virus was determined by a decrease of viral DNA replication. No B19 DNA was detected after infection with B19-MII heat-treated for 20 min or more by Southern blot. Viral B19 protein production decreased time-dependently and was not detected after infection with samples treated for 12 min at 60 degrees C or more determined by the enzyme immunoassay. This study indicates that infectivity of B19 virus in plasma can be reduced in vitro by heat-treatment (60 degrees C). However, this does not mean that the heat treatment completely inactivated B19 virus.