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Hepatitis C: a professional risk for dermatosurgeons
Author(s) -
Gelati Gianmario,
Muzio Gianfranco,
Rebora Alfredo
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of the european academy of dermatology and venereology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.655
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1468-3083
pISSN - 0926-9959
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-3083.1995.tb00309.x
Subject(s) - medicine , serology , hepatitis c virus , hepatitis c , risk of infection , immunology , antibody , virus , biology , genetics
Background Health care workers (HCW) in close contact with blood or serum are at risk for professional contagion with HCV. Among such personnel, the dermatosurgeon is on the firing line. We tried to quantitate such risk. Design One hundred consecutive out‐patients seeking dermatosurgical advice for cutaneous neoplasms were studied for serologic markers for HCV infection. Results Only 34 patients had not contracted any of the known hepatitis viruses, and 8% of the patients were anti‐HCV‐positive. Conclusion On the basis of these findings and of data in the literature, we conclude that in Genoa HCW run a high risk of acquiring HCV infection due to needle stick injury1. Patients should undergo serologic investigation for HCV infection before surgery, even a minor one, is performed.