Hepatitis Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Hepatitis, including details on hepatitis a, b, c, causes, symptoms.

Patient-to-patient transmission of hepatitis B virus associated with oral surgery.

Redd JT, Baumbach J, Kohn W, Nainan O, Khristova M, Williams I

Epidemic Intelligence Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. john.redd@ihs.gov

We used molecular epidemiologic techniques to document patient-to-patient transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV) between 2 outpatient oral surgery patients operated on 161 min apart. Serological testing of 25 (93%) of 27 patients operated on after the source patient revealed that 19 (76%) of 25 were previously immune to HBV; no additional cases were identified. We found no deficiencies in infection control practices. Transmission may have been limited by the high prevalence (64%) of patients vaccinated against HBV. To our knowledge, this is the first documented case of patient-to-patient transmission of a bloodborne pathogen in a dental setting in the United States.

Published 2 April 2007 in J Infect Dis, 195(9): 1311-4.
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