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Editor's Correspondence
October 14, 2002

Blood-Borne Viruses and Health Care Workers

Arch Intern Med. 2002;162(18):2141-2142. doi:

Sara Cody and colleagues,1 in their interesting report of transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) from a patient to an anesthesiologist and then to a second patient, outline once again the problem of transmission of blood-borne viruses in hospital settings. Transmission of another hepatitis virus, namely, hepatitis B virus (HBV), from surgeons to patients has been widely documented,2-6 whereas reports of HCV transmission are rare7-9 and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission exceptional.10 Health care workers are also at risk of acquiring blood-borne infections during their duties.

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