Outbreak of Nosocomial Hepatitis C Virus Infection Resolved by Genetic Analysis of HCV RNA
AUTOR(ES)
Bruguera, Miguel
FONTE
American Society for Microbiology
RESUMO
In July 2000, symptomatic acute hepatitis C was diagnosed in five patients who had attended the emergency room of a municipal hospital on the same day, about 6 weeks before. Investigation of the remaining 65 patients visited at the emergency room on that day disclosed that 8 patients had a positive anti-hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) test and 4 of them had biochemical evidence of acute anicteric hepatitis. HCV RNA was detected in 12 of the 13 anti-HCV-positive patients. Phylogenetic analysis of the nonstructural 5A (NS5A) and E2 regions showed that 10 patients, including all 9 with acute hepatitis, were infected with a closely related HCV strain, while the remaining 2 patients harbored unrelated strains. Flushing of intravenous catheters with heparin retrieved from a multidose heparin solution in saline was carried out for all the patients involved in the hepatitis outbreak but in only 1 of 23 (4%) matched controls recruited among HCV-noninfected patients attending the emergency room on the same day, and this was the only significant difference concerning risk factors for HCV infection between patients and controls. Thus, accidental contamination of a multidose heparin solution with blood from an unrecognized HCV carrier was identified as the source of this nosocomial outbreak of hepatitis C.
ACESSO AO ARTIGO
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=139636Documentos Relacionados
- Clinical significance of serum hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA as marker of HCV infection.
- Hepatitis C virus (HCV) core serotypes in chronic HCV infection.
- Enhanced amplification of hepatitis C virus (HCV) cDNA by PCR: detection of HCV RNA in archival sera.
- Use of Phylogenetic Analysis of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Hypervariable Region 1 Sequences To Trace an Outbreak of HCV in an Autodialysis Unit
- Use of the Minimum Spanning Tree Model for Molecular Epidemiological Investigation of a Nosocomial Outbreak of Hepatitis C Virus Infection