title: Hospital laundry workers--an at-risk group for hepatitis A?
abstract: Twenty-two laundry personnel at St. Luke's Hospital, Malta, were tested for seropositivity to hepatitis A together with 37 nursing aides working in paediatric and infectious disease wards, matched for age, who were used as controls. IgG antibodies were found in 54.5% of laundry workers and 13.5% of nursing aides [odds ratio (OR) = 7.68; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.87-33.83]. Furthermore, laundry personnel consistently handling dirty linen prior to washing showed an OR of 16.50 (CI = 1.19-825.57) as compared with colleagues handling only clean items. These results would suggest that the increased exposure of hospital laundry workers to potentially infected linen can constitute a risk of occupational hepatitis A for this group of employees.
authors.affiliation: Infection Control Unit, St. Luke's Hospital, Malta.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Borg
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Portelli
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000097:blood*; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007846:Laundering; D008319:Malta / Q000453:epidemiology; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000097:blood*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010564:Personnel, Hospital; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies