Low prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection among dentists in Taiwan

To evaluate whether hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is an occupational hazard in the dental environment, serum samples collected in 1990-1991 from 461 dentists were tested for the antibody to HCV (anti-HCV) with first- and second-generation HCV enzyme-linked immunoassays (EIAs). Five of the 363 (1.38%) serum samples were reactive by the first-generation (C100-3) HCV EIA. Of the same 363 samples and the other 98 samples, 3 (0.65%) were reactive by the second-generation test. Of the 5 first-generation EIA reactive samples, only the 2 samples showing an absorbance of greater than 2.0 were also reactive to the second-generation EIA. The other 3 low-absorbance samples became negative and were regarded as false positives. Among the 358 samples negative by the first-generation EIA, 1 was reacted by the second-generation EIA. Those samples positive by the first- and/or second-generation HCV EIA were analyzed further by cDNA/polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect the presence of HCV RNA. Only 1 of the 5 first-generation EIA reactive samples was positive by PCR, but 2 of the 3 second-generation EIA reactive samples were PCR positive. These results are comparable to the anti-HCV prevalence of healthy blood donors (0.95% by C100-3 assay) and pregnant women (0.63% by recombinant immunoblot assay). We conclude that the prevalence of HCV infection among dentists in Taiwan is low, and there is no increased risk of HCV infection through the practice of dentistry, at least in our area.