Hepatitis C virus infection among transmission-prone medical personnel

Hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected physicians have been reported to infect some of their patients during exposure-prone procedures (EPPs). There is no European consensus on the policy for the prevention of this transmission. To help define an appropriate preventive policy, we determined the prevalence...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases 2012-07, Vol.31 (7), p.1473-1477
Main Authors: Zaaijer, H. L., Appelman, P., Frijstein, G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Age
Aged
Antibodies
Biological and medical sciences
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Blood
Confidence intervals
Disease transmission
Female
Health care
Health Personnel
Hepatitis
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B virus
Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C - epidemiology
Hepatitis C - prevention & control
Hepatitis C - transmission
Hepatitis C Antibodies - blood
Hepatitis C virus
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus
Human viral diseases
Humans
Immunoblotting
Infections
Infectious Disease Transmission, Professional-to-Patient - prevention & control
Infectious diseases
Injuries
Internal Medicine
Laboratories
Male
Medical Microbiology
Medical personnel
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Needlestick injuries
Netherlands - epidemiology
Occupational exposure
Occupational health
Patients
Prevalence
Risk Assessment
RNA
RNA, Viral - blood
Surgeons
Vaccination
Viral diseases
Viral hepatitis
Virology
Viruses
Workers
Young Adult
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Summary:Hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected physicians have been reported to infect some of their patients during exposure-prone procedures (EPPs). There is no European consensus on the policy for the prevention of this transmission. To help define an appropriate preventive policy, we determined the prevalence of HCV infection among EPP-performing medical personnel in the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The prevalence of HCV infection was studied among 729 EPP-performing health care workers. Serum samples, stored after post-hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination testing in the years 2000–2009, were tested for HCV antibodies. Repeat reactive samples were confirmed by immunoblot assay and the detection of HCV RNA. The average age of the 729 health care workers was 39 years (range 18–66), suggesting a considerable cumulative occupational exposure to the blood. Nevertheless, only one of the 729 workers (0.14%; 95% confidence interval [CI]:
ISSN:0934-9723
1435-4373
1435-4373
DOI:10.1007/s10096-011-1466-9