title: Hepatitis C - contamination of toothbrushes: myth or reality?
abstract: Chronic hepatitis C patients are advised not to share toothbrushes, razors, nail-scissors or other personal articles that potentially may have been in contact with blood, with others. This study examines the contamination of toothbrushes in patients with chronic hepatitis C as a model for a possible unconventional way of transmission. In 30 patients with chronic hepatitis C, 2 mL of saliva (before and after toothbrushing) and the toothbrush rinsing water after toothbrushing were tested for HCV-RNA. Saliva before and after toothbrushing was positive for HCV-RNA in nine (30%) and 11 patients (36.7%), respectively. Twelve of the toothbrush rinsing water specimens (40%) tested HCV-RNA-positive. In six of these 12 patients, the 'native' saliva had been negative for HCV-RNA. Patients with HCV-RNA-positive toothbrush rinsing water showed no significant differences from those with negative rinsing water with respect to certain clinical, biochemical and virological parameters. In conclusion, our study demonstrates a contamination with HCV-RNA of a considerable portion of toothbrushes used by hepatitis C patients, suggesting at least a theoretical risk of infection by sharing these objects and strengthening the recommendations to take care of a clear separation of these personal care objects between patients and their household members.
authors.affiliation: Albertinenkrankenhaus Hamburg, 2nd Medical Department, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany. guntram.lock@albertinen.de
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lock
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dirscherl
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Obermeier
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Gelbmann
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hellerbrand
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Knöll
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schölmerich
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jilg
mesh_terms: D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D001663:Bilirubin / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D012463:Saliva / Q000821:virology*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014099:Toothbrushing / Q000295:instrumentation*; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral; D000410:Alanine Transaminase; D001663:Bilirubin