Allograft safety: viral inactivation with bone demineralization.

A study was performed to validate the effectiveness of a bone demineralization process with respect to its inactivation of viruses. The viruses selected for study included human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), duck hepatitis B virus (a model for human hepatitis B), bovine viral diarrheal virus (a model for human hepatitis C), human cytomegalovirus, and human poliovirus (a model for small nonenveloped viruses, e.g., hepatitis A). This study was performed in compliance with Good Laboratory Practice regulations using validation methodology similar to that used to ensure the safety of blood derivatives and other products. Use of the bone demineralization process described in this report resulted in a reduction in infectivity of greater than one million (10(6)) for all viruses and as much as one trillion (10(12)) for the poliovirus.