Incidence of hepatitis B exposure among USAF dental laboratory technicians

The purpose of this study was to survey, serologically, the exposure history of USAF dental laboratory technicians to hepatitis B virus (HBV), and to compare the incidence to that found in the general military population. Blood samples from 145 technicians, with an average age of 26.9 (S.D. = 6.9) in four locations in the USA and Europe, were tested for the presence of HBV core antibody using a standard enzyme immunoassay (EIA) procedure. These results were compared against 397 military members in non-medical fields of equivalent age and rank. The binomially distributed data was converted to a z distribution and a statistically significant difference was found in a comparison of the probability of detecting anti-HBc in each population (P = 0.034) where the incidence among the technicians was 2.7% and the military population 0.76%. Use of a "barrier system" in the laboratory, and vaccinations, could prevent any increase in this incidence from an occupational source.