title: [Viral hepatitis B among the health care workers. Experience at a health facility in Eastern Sicily].
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Sezione di Medicina del Lavoro, Dipartimento di Medicina Interna e Patologie Sistemiche, Università, Catania. lproietti@tiscalinet.it
authors.forename: Lidia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Proietti
authors.forename: Rosalba
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fantauzzo
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Longo
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Malaguarnera
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trizzino
authors.forename: Domenica
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Duscio
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006282:Health Personnel; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors