Needlestick injuries and hepatitis B virus vaccination in health care workers
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Aj, Alzahrani; Pamela Vallely; Pe, Klapper
- Source
- Europe PubMed Central
- Subject
- Adult
Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional
England
Health Personnel
Humans
Immunization
Guideline Adherence
Middle Aged
Hepatitis B
Needlestick Injuries
Retrospective Studies
- Language
An analysis of 2646 needlestick injuries in hospitals in the Greater Manchester area between April 1992 and April 1999 was carried out. Ten per cent of members of staff injured in these incidents had never been vaccinated against hepatitis B virus (HBV) and 27% of those who had been vaccinated had no anti-HBs (10 IU/L). Although few health care workers were at risk of transmission of HBV through needlestick incidents in this study (0.6% (12/2084) of all source patients were HBsAg positive; 9 HBeAg positive, 7 anti-HBe positive), the large number of members of staff who were not protected from HBV infection indicates a need for occupational health departments to reinforce HBV vaccination policies.