Major articleRisk of infection in health care workers following occupational exposure to a noninfectious or unknown source
Section snippets
Setting
This prospective follow-up study was performed at Dokuz Eylul University Hospital, Izmir, Turkey, between January 2001 and January 2007. This facility is a 966-bed tertiary care hospital.
Study population
The study population comprised HCWs working at the Dokuz Eylul University Hospital who were referred to the hospital's Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology after an occupational exposure to blood or body fluids. In HCWs with more than 1 ccupational exposure, each exposure was considered a
Study population
A total of 565 incidents were recorded during the study period. Of these incidents, 116 exposures with a known source patient positive for HBsAg, anti-HCV, or HIV Ag/Ab were excluded from the study. Thus, the study population comprised 374 HCWs exposed to blood or body fluids in a total of 449 incidents. The mean age was 30.11 ± 7.97 years (range, 18 to 60 years), and most were female (70.3%). Table 1 summarizes demographic and epidemiologic data for 449 exposure incidents in 374 HCWs. Some of
Discussion
Occupational exposure to potentially infectious materials is not uncommon in HCWs. In 2002, the WHO World Health Report reported that 2.5% of HIV cases and 40% of HBV and HCV cases among HCWs worldwide were the result of occupational exposure.2 Although the risk for HIV infection is very low, the risk of infection with hepatitis (especially hepatitis B) is very high in nonimmunized HCWs. According to the WHO, in some areas of the world, > 80% of HCWs have not been immunized against HBV despite
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