title: [The healthcare worker as a source of hepatitis C virus infection].
abstract: The paper discusses risks associated with the possibility of transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection from an infected healthcare worker to a patient. Reports describing infections where a healthcare worker was the source of HCV infection to patients are summarized and guidelines concerning approach to infected healthcare workers in other countries are presented. Surgeons performing exposure-prone procedures are almost the only source of infection to patients, provided that universal precautions are respected. Exposure prone procedures occur most commonly during gynaecologic, orthopedic, thoracic operations. At present routine testing of all healthcare workers for HCV infection is not justified. Some experts recommend screening for HCV infection surgeons performing exposure-prone-procedures. Although the present risk of HCV transmission from a HCV infected (HCV-RNA positive) healthcare worker to a patient is small, estimated to be about 1/7000 surgical procedures, some countries recommend that healthcare workers infected with HCV should be restricted from undertaking exposure prone procedures.
authors.affiliation: Zakład Medycyny Rodzinnej i Pielegniarstwa Srodowiskowego Akademii Medycznej, Białymstoku. schlabicz@poczta.onet.pl
authors.forename: Sławomir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chlabicz
mesh_terms: D006282:Health Personnel; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D017757:Infectious Disease Transmission, Professional-to-Patient; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000009:adverse effects*