[HCV infection in medical environments]

Since the discovery of the hepatitis C virus(HCV), it has become evident that this infectious agent is a primary cause of posttransfusion and sporadic non-A, non-B hepatitis. Populations at risk for HCV infection include health care workers, infants born to HCV-infected mothers, hemodyalysis patients, and intravenous drug abusers. Because there currently is no HCV vaccine or specific immunoglobulin against HCV, prevention of exposure remains the only possibility for reducing HCV transmission and prevalence. However, the percentage of individuals who are positive for HCV antibody among health care workers is not significantly high, suggesting that health care workers are not at very high risk of HCV infection. Too much fear of HCV infection among the health care workers should be avoided.