title: Prevalence of hepatitis C virus antibodies in hospital personnel.
abstract: We have used a recently developed enzyme immunoassay to evaluate the prevalence of hepatitis C virus antibodies (anti-HCV) in patient groups and hospital personnel. The prevalence of anti-HCV in haemophiliacs, intravenous drug users, male homosexuals, and haemodialysis patients was 86, 63, 28, and 9 percent, respectively. Eight of 738 (1.1 percent) sera from health care workers were positive for anti-HCV. Only two of the 8 employees which were seropositive for anti-HCV also demonstrated serological markers of a previous infection with hepatitis B virus. The reported seroepidemiological data may not correctly reflect the risk of HCV transmission in the hospital setting, since the currently available assay shows a high sensitivity only for the detection of persistent HCV infections. There is an urgent need for the development of HCV antibody assays with increased sensitivity.
authors.affiliation: Mikrobiologisches Institut, Krankenhaus Ludwigsburg.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Abb
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000276:immunology*; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000097:blood; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010564:Personnel, Hospital; D015995:Prevalence
chemical_list: D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens