Risk of infection in health care workers following occupational exposure to a noninfectious or unknown source.
BACKGROUND
The major concern after occupational exposures is the possible transmission of blood-borne pathogens, especially hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This study was undertaken to evaluate the risk of infection after exposure to blood or body fluids of an unknown or an HBV-, HCV-, and HIV-negative source and to determine the epidemiologic characteristics of these incidents in health care workers.


METHODS
The survey was conducted over a 6-year period at a university hospital in Turkey, using a questionnaire to elicit demographic and epidemiologic information. Serologic tests for HBV, HCV, and HIV were performed and repeated after 3 months.


RESULTS
Of the 449 incidents, complete follow-up was achieved in 320 (71.3%), and no seroconversion was observed for HBV, HCV and HIV. Most of the incidents occurred in medical (34.7%) and surgical (25.4%) work areas. The most frequent type of exposure was percutaneous injury (94%), most commonly caused by handling of garbage bags (58.4%), needle recapping (16.5%), and invasive interventions (13.4%).


CONCLUSIONS
Infection risk seems to be extremely low for HCV and HIV, because of low endemicity, and for HBV in groups immunized against HBV.
Kuruuzum
Ziya
Z
Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Dokuz Eylul, Izmir, Turkey. ziya.kuruuzum@deu.edu.tr
Yapar
Nur
N
Avkan-Oguz
Vildan
V
Aslan
Halil
H
Ozbek
Ozgen Alpay
OA
Cakir
Nedim
N
Yuce
Ayse
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001769:Blood / Q000382:microbiology; D017848:Blood-Borne Pathogens / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001826:Body Fluids / Q000382:microbiology; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission*; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D017758:Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012306:Risk; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology