title: Hepatitis C virus infection and risk factors in health-care workers at Ain Shams University Hospitals, Cairo, Egypt.
abstract: The objectives of this study were to document the background prevalence and incidence of HCV infection among HCWs in Ain Shams University Hospitals in Cairo and analyse the risk factors for HCV infection. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2008 among 1770 HCWs. Anti-HCV prevalence was age-standardized using the Cairo population. A prospective cohort was followed for a period of 18 months to estimate HCV incidence. The crude anti-HCV prevalence was 8.0% and the age-standardized seroprevalence was 8.1%. Risk factors independently associated with HCV seropositivity were: age, manual worker, history of blood transfusions and history of parenteral anti-schistosomiasis treatment. The estimated incidence of HCV infection was 7.3 per 1000 person-years. HCWs in this setting had a similar high HCV seroprevalence as the general population of greater Cairo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community, Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. omar.okasha@uta.fi.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Okasha
authors.affiliation: Emerging Diseases Epidemiology Unit, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Munier
authors.affiliation: Emerging Diseases Epidemiology Unit, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Delarocque-Astagneau
authors.affiliation: Department of Community, Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: El Houssinie
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rafik
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bassim
authors.affiliation: Viral Hepatitis Research Laboratory, National Hepatology and Tropical Medicine Research Institute, Cairo, Egypt.|Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Minya University, Minya, Egypt.
authors.forename: M Abdel
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Hamid
authors.affiliation: Department of Community, Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Mohamed
authors.affiliation: Emerging Diseases Epidemiology Unit, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.|Conservatoire National des Arts et Mériers, Paris, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fontanet
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission*; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D017758:Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional; D008297:Male; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires