Hepatitis C screening and prevalence among urban public safety workers

This study examines the prevalence of anti-hepatitis C virus by using an enzyme-linked immunoassay test (EIA-2) in 2447 volunteers (including 1560 police, 678 fire, and 209 emergency medical service personnel) and a self-reported questionnaire on potential occupational and non-occupational risk factors. Subjects consisted of 76% men, 54.8% blacks, and 40.3% whites. Twenty-eight individuals (1.1%) tested positive, with prevalence rates of 1.1% and 1.3%, respectively, among blacks and whites. Although firefighters and emergency medical service workers had a higher prevalence (2.3% and 2.8%) than police (0.6%), the overall prevalence was lower than that typical of urban populations. In a multivariate analysis, the most important risk factors were behavioral, with no significant occupational exposure risk observed. Previously reported racial differences were not detected in this study, most likely because the subjects were of similar socioeconomic status.