Hepatitis C a
Greater Threat to Healthcare Workers Than HIV
July 20, 2000
ATLANTA (Reuters
Health) .The risk that healthcare workers will become infected with
hepatitis C virus (Hepatitis C Virus) following an accidental needlestick is 20 to 40
times greater than their risk of HIV infection, according to data
presented here at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious
Disease. The meeting was sponsored by the US Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention and the American Society for Microbiology.
“HIV has driven
healthcare safety initiatives for years," Dr. Robert T. Ball pointed out
in an interview with Reuters Health during the meeting. "We need to
change our educational focus" to address the risk of exposure to Hepatitis C Virus, he
said.
Ball, an
epidemiologist from the South Carolina Department of Health, polled 66
healthcare facilities in South Carolina, gathering data on Hepatitis C Virus and HIV
in cases where healthcare workers were exposed to blood or body fluids.
Responses from 53
hospitals (80%) revealed that 1 ,668 healthcare workers had been exposed
to either Hepatitis C Virus or HIV in 1998. Of the patients involved, 1 ,451 had been
tested for Hepatitis C Virus and 1 ,508 had been tested for HIV. Overall, 5.2% were
infected with Hepatitis C Virus and 2.3% were infected with HIV.
These rates are
"significantly higher than the general population at 1.5% and 0.3%,
respectively," the researchers note. Because Hepatitis C Virus is more
prevalent in the general population than HIV, Bell said that it is
logical that it is a greater threat to healthcare workers who experience
needlesticks, yet the data suggest that Hepatitis C Virus is less often
tested for after accidental needlesticks than HIV. “ We have
started a healthcare worker safety unit, as well as a statewide registry
and coalition to raise awareness," Bell said. 'It is important that both
private and public health providers be made aware of the risk, and above
all that all source patient providers be tested for hepatitis C.
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