Risk of infection from needle reuse at a phlebotomy center.

Porco, T C; Aragón, T J; Fernyak, S E; Cody, S H; Vugia, D J; Katz, M H; Bangsberg, D R · Am J Public Health · 2001

retrospective_cohort · Level III

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Abstract

This study determined infection risk for HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) from needle reuse at a phlebotomy center that possibly exposed 3810 patients to infection. We used a model for the risk of infection per blood draw, supplemented by subsequent testing results from 1699 patients. The highest risk of transmission was for HBV infection: 1.1 x 10(-6) in the best case and 1.2 x 10(-3) in the (unlikely) worst case. Subsequent testing yielded prevalence rates of 0.12%, 0.41%, and 0.88% for HIV, HBV, and HCV, respectively, lower than National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III prevalence estimates. The infection risk was very low; few, if any, transmissions are likely to have occurred.

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