title: Transmission of hepatitis C from a midwife to a patient through non-exposure prone procedures.
abstract: A woman developed acute hepatitis C (HCV) infection 2 months after delivering her baby at a London Hospital. The other patients who had been on the unit at the same time all had negative HCV serology antenatally. Testing of the healthcare workers who had been involved in this patient's care revealed that one of the midwives who only worked on the postnatal unit was chronically infected with the same viral genotype. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis revealed close identity between the viruses from the two individuals. Although, the midwife had only performed non-exposure prone procedures including venepuncture and cannulation, our findings indicate that transmission of the virus had occurred from the healthcare worker to the patient. The potential implications of this case within the setting of national policy on blood borne viruses and healthcare workers are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infection & Immunity, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, W6 8RF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Muir
authors.forename: Yimmy
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chow
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tedder
authors.forename: Donald
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Harrison
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Holmes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006282:Health Personnel; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D008880:Midwifery; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral
keywords: blood borne viruses; maternity unit; nosocomial; phylogenetic analysis