Hepatitis B: an occupational hazard for health care personnel

Hepatitis B infection historically has constituted a serious occupational hazard for susceptible health care personnel. The Occupational Safety and Health Act requires employers, including health care provides, to take all feasible measures necessary to eliminate substantial and recognized occupational hazards. With respect to hepatitis B, such measures might include not only traditional hygienic, identification, sterilization, and post-exposure procedures, but also use of the hepatitis B viral vaccine to immunize at-risk personnel. Because this vaccine is highly efficacious, relatively safe, and cost-effective, its use for health care workers significantly at risk of exposure to the hepatitis B virus might well be required by this federal statute.