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Occupational Medicine Advance Access published online on March 26, 2007
Occupational Medicine, doi:10.1093/occmed/kqm010
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

short report

Compliance with follow-up after occupational exposure to hepatitis C

Sian Williams1, Valerie Libotte1 and Mary Ramsay2

1 Occupational Health and Safety Unit, Royal Free Hospital, London NW3 2QG, UK
2 Communicable Diseases Surveillance Centre, Health Protection Agency, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ, UK

Background Accidental percutaneous exposure to blood containing hepatitis C virus (HCV) is reported by health care workers more frequently than exposure to human immunodeficiency and hepatitis B virus. The transmission rate following such an exposure is ~1.9%. Little is known about the attendance rate of such staff for follow-up testing following exposure to HCV.

Aim To determine whether our follow-up programme for staff exposed to hepatitis C would allow the early detection and treatment of infected staff members.

Method We reviewed all staff exposures to hepatitis C reported to the occupational health department of a London teaching hospital over a 8-year period.

Results Of 105 exposures, 21% of staff attended for early (6 or 12 weeks) and late (26 weeks) post-exposure follow-up. Thirty-seven per cent attended early follow-up only and 1% attended late having not attended early follow-up. Forty per cent did not attend any follow-up appointments with us.

Conclusion With the availability of effective treatment for early HCV infection, it is vital that occupational health departments encourage staff to attend at least for early follow-up. Access to HCV-RNA testing at this early stage should allow detection and early treatment of the small proportion who seroconvert.

Keywords      Compliance; hepatitis C; occupational exposure

Correspondence to: Sian Williams, Occupational Health and Safety Unit, Royal Free Hospital, Pond Street, London NW3 2QG, UK. Tel: +44 20 7830 2509/2510/2511; fax: +44 20 7830 2512; e-mail: sian.williams{at}royalfree.nhs.uk


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