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Hepatitis G Virus Exposure in Dialysis Staff
Author(s) -
Eslamifar Ali,
Hamkar Rasool,
Ramezani Amitis,
Ahmadi Farrokhlagha,
Gachkar Latif,
Jalilvand Somayeh,
Adibi Ladan,
Khameneh Ali,
Atabak Shahnaz,
Ghadimi Ramin,
Aghakhani Arezoo
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
therapeutic apheresis and dialysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.415
H-Index - 53
eISSN - 1744-9987
pISSN - 1744-9979
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-9987.2007.00501.x
Subject(s) - medicine , hbsag , dialysis , hepatitis c virus , continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis , hemodialysis , antibody , virology , hepatitis b virus , virus , immunology
Hepatitis G virus (HGV) is a blood‐borne virus. Some present data demonstrate an occupational risk of HGV infection in medical staff of dialysis units. The aim of this investigation was to assess the prevalence of HGV exposure in dialysis staff. This study was performed in a main dialysis unit in Iran. In 27 dialysis staff, HGV exposure was detected serologically by the presence of anti HGV envelope protein E2 (anti‐E2) by an enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay, and compared with 77 hemodialysis (HD) and 13 continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients. All of them were also screened for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B surface antibody (anti‐HBs), and hepatitis C antibody (anti‐HCV). A low prevalence of HGV exposure was found in the dialysis staff (0%), which nearly corresponded to the prevalence of the dialysis patients (HD 3.89%, CAPD 0%). The prevalence of anti‐HCV and anti‐HBs in staff was 37.03% and 33.33%, respectively, which was higher than HGV anti‐E2. The prevalence of HGV exposure was low in dialysis staff in our study, and was near to the prevalence of HGV exposure in dialysis patients. Therefore, it can be concluded that the occupational risk for HGV exposure in our investigation was minimal.