Hepatitis B and the Medical Health Care Worker: Employment and Vaccination Guidelines

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major cause of acute and chronic hepatitis. The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has estimated that 12,000 health care workers whose jobs entail exposure to blood become infected with HBV each year.1 Although HBV transmission is primarily from patient to hospital personnel, approximately 1-2 % of health care workers are HBsAg positive2 which suggests that these workers are at risk for transmitting HBV infections to patients. At the Philippine Heart Center (PHC), beginning on February, 1988, high risk medical workers (doctors, nurses, nursing aides, medical technologists, perfusionists, respiratory and dialysis therapists) were screened for HBV markers preparatory to giving susceptible personnel the immunization against hepatitis B. As of November, 1989, 666 personnel were screened. Forty one (41) were hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive and 202 were anti-HBs positive for prevalence rates of 6.15 % and 30.33%.3 These were below the national average of 12.9 % and 40.6 % for anti-HBs.4 In August, 1990, Hepatitis B screening was incorporated into the pre-employment requirements of medical health care personnel applying to the PHC. A single screening marker was used