Human immunodeficiency virus seroprevalence among adults treated for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Seattle, Washington, 1989-1993.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate the potential risk of HIV exposure for those providing emergency care for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Seattle, Washington, by surveying the seroprevalence of HIV in the patient population.


METHODS
We surveyed the seroprevalence of HIV among 1,474 persons treated for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest by paramedics during the years 1989 through 1993. Blood specimens were obtained at the site of cardiac arrest, stripped of personal identifiers, and tested for HIV-1 and HIV-2 by enzyme immunoassay and Western blot.


RESULTS
Among the 1,011 men, 8 (.8%, 95 percent confidence interval .3% to 1.4%) were seropositive for HIV-1 during this 5-year period; all 8 were younger than age 55. No serologic evidence of HIV infection was detected among the 463 women.


CONCLUSIONS
The seroprevalence of HIV in this population was relatively low. Risk of possible HIV transmission during paramedic treatment was remote.
Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
S
S
Weinmann
D S
DS
Siscovick
T E
TE
Raghunathan
H
H
Handsfield
M
M
Copass
L A
LA
Cobb
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015153:Blotting, Western; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D004634:Emergency Medical Technicians; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000635:transmission; D015528:HIV Seroprevalence; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015498:HIV-2 / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D014861:Washington / Q000453:epidemiology