HCV-infection is the main cause of chronic liver disease among Egyptians, the most commonly infected population with HCV genotype 4. Evidences of HCV-transmission that are associated with health-care settings have consistently accumulated over recent years worldwide. Therefore, healthcare workers (HCWs) are the target population of the current study. The study evaluated prevalence of HCV-infection among different sectors of HCWs at Al Azhar University Hospitals.
The population (n=239) were divided into four groups. G1(n=59) included healthy controls who were not working at hospitals. Other subjects (n=180) consisted three equal groups (2, 3 & 4) who were working at Al-Azhar University Hospitals. Respectively, workers, nurses and physicians presented group 2, 3 & 4 (n=60 each) from different hospital wards. Based upon duration of employment at hospitals, subjects in each of the last three groups were subdivided into 3 subgroups (n=20 each). Risk-factors that were thought to have an impact on acquisition of HCVinfection were evaluated. The overall prevalence of HCV infection in study populations was 21.34% with the highest rate in nurses (38.3%) and workers (20%) when compared to controls (15.3%) and physicians (11.7%; P<0.05). The significantly increased HCV infection in nurses compared to physicians (P<0.05) was found during all employment periods. Needle stick injury, incidental exposure to blood and body fluid splashes were respectively prominent risk-factors among nurses (70%, 60% & 35%) and workers (35%, 21.7% & 18.3%). Nurses and hospital workers had high prevalence of HCV infection. Long duration of nurse employment was associated with increased frequency of needle sticks and subsequently high prevalence of HCVinfection, but not physicians.