Hepatitis B and C virus--prevalence and prevention in health care workers.
BACKGROUND
Hepatitis B and C viruses are important causes of liver related morbidity and mortality. We aimed at determining the presence of hepatitis B and C virus infections in the health care workers (HCWs) and their compliance for the HBV vaccination.


METHODS
Three thousand five hundred and fifty six health care workers were screened for HBsAg and 115 for anti-HCV by ELISA. HBsAg negative individual were offered HBV vaccination and record of their compliance was kept. Anti-HBs titers were determined one month after 2nd or 3rd dose of vaccine in 273 subjects.


RESULTS
Out of 3556 health care workers, 61 (1.7%) were found to be positive for HBsAg. One out of 115 HCWs (0.87%) was found to be positive for anti-HCV. Fifteen percent of HCWs received only one dose, 26% received two doses 59% received three doses and 2.5% also received the booster dose of the HBV vaccine. All those tested had anti-HBs titers more than 10 mUI/ml.


CONCLUSIONS
In HCWs, HBsAg and anti-HCV prevalence was found to be 1.7% and 0.87% respectively. HCWs in our hospital, despite the awareness on HBV and HCV infection are noncompliant for HBV vaccination.
Duseja
A
A
Department of Hepatology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh.
Arora
L
L
Masih
B
B
Singh
H
H
Gupta
A
A
Behera
D
D
Chawla
Y K
YK
Dhiman
R K
RK
D000328:Adult; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines