Prevalence of HCV antibodies in health-care workers from northern Italy.

The prevalence of HCV antibodies was assessed in 407 health-care workers and in 253 control subjects by means of immunoassays based on recombinant antigens. The seroprevalence in the study group was fairly low (1.2%) and not statistically different from that of controls (0.8%). The relation of HBV and HCV infections was evaluated in 83 health-care workers and in 82 controls: in both groups anti-HCV positivity was weakly related (p less than 0.05) to the HBV infection. HCV infection was associated with working in high risk wards (4/5 cases) and with report of accidental needle pricks (4/5 cases). As evaluated by means of the available markers, HCV infections in health-care workers seem to be rare.