[Viral hepatitis B among the health care workers. Experience at a health facility in Eastern Sicily].
OBJECTIVE
to estimate the prevalence of HBV positivity considering the qualifications of workers exposed to biological risk in a hospital in Eastern Sicily.


METHODS
1800 people exposed to biological risk: surgeons, physicians, laboratory workers, rehabilitation therapists, midwives, biologists and technicians underwent a test for HBV.


RESULTS
25 workers resulted positive to HBsAg, that is 1.3 % of the total population examined; the professional categories mostly resulting positive were the auxiliaries with a 2% prevalence, and professional nurses with 1.5%, followed by surgeons resulting 1% positive. In the positive group of HBsAg, 16 workers, equal to 64%, were also positive to the viral replication test. Regarding the antibody coverage, the distribution among workers evidenced that 30.4% of the nurses was vaccinated, against 15% of the surgeons and 11.7% of the physicians. 6.4% of the total population studied had a natural immunity, with an absolute prevalence in the auxiliary group-OTA: 9.3%, followed by the professional nurses with a 7.8% positivity.


CONCLUSIONS
it is shown that the health care workers do not have a sufficient perception of the biological risk, so it is necessary to adopt new strategies to promote the vaccination and increase formation activities and general information.
Proietti
Lidia
L
Sezione di Medicina del Lavoro, Dipartimento di Medicina Interna e Patologie Sistemiche, Università, Catania. lproietti@tiscalinet.it
Fantauzzo
Rosalba
R
Longo
Barbara
B
Malaguarnera
Mario
M
Trizzino
Maurizio
M
Duscio
Domenica
D
D000328:Adult; D006282:Health Personnel; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors