Baker S A
Park Place Medical Center, Port Arthur, TX.
J Clin Eng. 1994 Nov-Dec;19(6):446-51. doi: 10.1097/00004669-199411000-00013.
Hepatitis is the primary occupational hazard for healthcare workers. Not until the 1970s were hepatitis viruses isolated and identified as types A and B. In the late 1970s, hepatitis D was discovered as a major cause of fulminant hepatitis. Soon, it was evident that another type was also at work. Because testing was only available for types A and B, the new category was referred to as non-A, non-B. In the 1980s, scientists identified two more viruses from this non-A, non-B group, namely hepatitis E and hepatitis C. These five types of hepatitis have different modes of transmission. The fecal-to-oral route is the mode of transmission for hepatitis types A and E. But, types B and D are bloodborne pathogens. With the advent of a safe vaccine for hepatitis B, this category is declining. To date, hepatitis C appears to have multiple routes of transmission, with half the cases being posttransfusion. In the United States, 85,000 people per year develop chronic hepatitis C, which ultimately leads to severe liver damage. This paper addresses each of the five viruses that have been grouped by routes of transmission, prevention techniques for BMETs and CEs, and statistics of reported cases to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) over the last 20 years.
肝炎是医护人员面临的主要职业危害。直到20世纪70年代，肝炎病毒才被分离出来并确定为甲型和乙型。20世纪70年代末，丁型肝炎被发现是暴发性肝炎的主要病因。很快，很明显还有另一种类型也在起作用。由于当时只能检测甲型和乙型肝炎，新的类别被称为非甲非乙型肝炎。在20世纪80年代，科学家们从这个非甲非乙组中又鉴定出两种病毒，即戊型肝炎和丙型肝炎。这五种肝炎有不同的传播方式。甲型和戊型肝炎的传播方式是粪口途径。但是，乙型和丁型肝炎是血源性病原体。随着乙型肝炎安全疫苗的出现，这一类别正在减少。迄今为止，丙型肝炎似乎有多种传播途径，其中一半病例是输血后感染。在美国，每年有85000人患上慢性丙型肝炎，最终导致严重的肝损伤。本文讨论了按传播途径分类的五种病毒、生物医学设备技术人员和临床工程师的预防技术，以及过去20年向疾病控制与预防中心（CDCP）报告的病例统计数据。
