3. Person Currently or Formerly Sharing a Home with an Affected Individual

Must not donate if less than 6 months:
1. From recovery of the last affected person in the home, or

2. From the last contact with an affected person if no longer sharing, or

3. Since a person sharing a home tested positive for Hepatitis A Virus (HAV) RNA.

1. If less than 6 months from recovery of the last affected person in the home, from the last contact if no longer sharing, or since a person sharing a home tested positive for HAV RNA, AND shown to be immune, accept.

2. For tissues that will undergo processing that has been determined to inactivate HAV prior to transplantation, accept.

Because hepatitis A is spread by the faecal - oral route household contacts may easily become infected. Infection may be symptom free but can be serious and occasionally fatal. The 6 month exclusion allows any infection to run its natural course and for any risk of passing the infection on through donation to have passed.

The processing and decontamination protocols applied to certain types of tissue allograft may be sufficient to inactivate the Hepatitis A Virus. Tissue establishments should perform a documented risk assessment to determine which tissues and processes this applies to.

To expand the ‘Obligatory’ and ‘Discretionary’ sections to add guidance for donors currently or formerly sharing a house with an individual who had tested positive for HAV RNA within 6 months of the date of donation, and to allow donation of tissues where the processing and decontamination protocols applied have been determined to inactivate Hepatitis A Virus.