Hepatitis C virus infection in medical personnel after needlestick accident.
Hepatitis C virus infections in medical personnel after needlestick accidents have been documented generally by detection of seroconversion to a hepatitis C virus nonstructural region antigen, c100-3 (a marker of infection). We tested for hepatitis C virus core-derived antibodies and genomic RNA in addition to c100-3 antibody in 159 cases of needlestick exposure that did not involve patients positive for HBsAg. Of these we found 68 cases with index patients positive for both hepatitis C virus RNA and antibodies and members negative for antibodies to HCV core or c100-3 before the needlestick accidents. Seven of these medical personnel became infected with hepatitis C virus after the accidents. Their hepatitis was generally subclinical or self-limited and transient, except for one patient in whom liver enzyme elevation persisted along with the antibodies. In our study, the risk of hepatitis C virus transmission from a single needlestick accident with hepatitis C virus RNA-positive blood was 10%, considerably higher than the 4% estimated in a previous study. We found that donor blood with antibody to an hepatitis C virus core-derived peptide with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay optical densities greater than 2.0 carried a significant risk of transmitting hepatitis C virus to needlestick victims. No hepatitis C virus seroconversions occurred in medical personnel exposed to hepatitis C virus antibody-negative or hepatitis C virus RNA-negative blood; however, one such exposure resulted in a very mild non-A, non-B, non-C hepatitis.
Mitsui
T
T
Masuko Memorial Hospital, Aichi-ken, Japan.
Iwano
K
K
Masuko
K
K
Yamazaki
C
C
Okamoto
H
H
Tsuda
F
F
Tanaka
T
T
Mishiro
S
S
D006282:Health Personnel; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D016602:Needlestick Injuries; D009784:Occupational Diseases; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood
D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies; D012367:RNA, Viral