title: Risk of infection from needle reuse at a phlebotomy center.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study determined infection risk for HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) from needle reuse at a phlebotomy center that possibly exposed 3810 patients to infection.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used a model for the risk of infection per blood draw, supplemented by subsequent testing results from 1699 patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The highest risk of transmission was for HBV infection: 1.1 x 10(-6) in the best case and 1.2 x 10(-3) in the (unlikely) worst case. Subsequent testing yielded prevalence rates of 0.12%, 0.41%, and 0.88% for HIV, HBV, and HCV, respectively, lower than National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III prevalence estimates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The infection risk was very low; few, if any, transmissions are likely to have occurred.
authors: Community Health Epidemiology, Epidemiology and Effectiveness Research Unit, San Francisco Department of Public Health, San Francisco, Calif., USA.
authors: T C
authors: TC
authors: Porco
authors: T J
authors: TJ
authors: Aragón
authors: S E
authors: SE
authors: Fernyak
authors: S H
authors: SH
authors: Cody
authors: D J
authors: DJ
authors: Vugia
authors: M H
authors: MH
authors: Katz
authors: D R
authors: DR
authors: Bangsberg
mesh_terms: D002140:California; D004866:Equipment Contamination; D017743:Equipment Reuse; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000635:transmission*; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000635:transmission*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods*; D009339:Needles / Q000821:virology*; D018962:Phlebotomy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000592:standards; D011336:Probability; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data