QUARTERLY SAFETY MEETING
FALL 2000- Special Topic
MCL Pathology
Safety Awareness 9/2000
Hepatitis C Update
Health care workers are involved in 600,000-1,000,000 injuries annually from needles and sharps. Many of these cases involve exposure to such viruses as HIV and hepatitis B and C. Of these viruses hepatitis C (HCV) is the most disturbing because once dried it can exist in a viable state on surfaces for weeks. It also cannot be prevented by immunization like A and B because it mutates so rapidly.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicts in the next 10 years that deaths caused by Hepatitis C virus (HCV) will triple from the current 10,000 to 30,000 annually— even though there is a decrease in needle sharing, increase in HIV awareness, and extensive blood donor screening. The increase in deaths will result from individuals who have chronic hepatitis C and were infected decades ago. HCV related-hepatic failure is now the leading cause for liver transplantation in the US.
The onset of HCV infection is often unrecognized and asymptomatic. Chronic HCV develops in 80-90% of infected individuals.
Symptoms of chronic hepatitis include:
About 60% of the patients with chronic HCV are asymptomatic and 80-90% have no physical findings attributable to chronic liver disease. Of the patients that have chronic HCV, 20-30% progress to cirrhosis of the liver and 1% to 2% to hepatocellular carcinoma 20 to 30 years after initial exposure to HCV.
What does this mean to me???
After exposure to an HCV positive patient the average incidence of anti-HCV seroconversion for health care workers is 1.8%. If that seems low consider these two facts: 1. At MCL we have documented several post-exposure HCV seroconversions. 2. Up to one thousand new occupational HCV infections are estimated to occur worldwide each year. Those are not small numbers especially when that person is you! Avoid this risk by:
Keep you own liver— it's easy and economical.
REFERENCES:
1. Bocklhold, KM. Who's afraid of hepatitis C? American Journal of Nursing; May 2000: 100(5) 26-31.
2. Clark , CH. Hepatitis C: Role of the advanced practice nurse. AACN Clinical Issues; 1999: 10(4) 455-463.