Patient‐to‐Patient Transmission of Hepatitis B Virus Associated with Oral Surgery
1Epidemic Intelligence Service and Divisions of 2Oral Health and 3Viral Hepatitis, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia; 4Office of Epidemiology, New Mexico Department of Health, Santa Fe
We used molecular epidemiologic techniques to document patient‐to‐patient transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV) between 2 outpatient oral surgery patients operated on 161 min apart. Serological testing of 25 (93%) of 27 patients operated on after the source patient revealed that 19 (76%) of 25 were previously immune to HBV; no additional cases were identified. We found no deficiencies in infection control practices. Transmission may have been limited by the high prevalence (64%) of patients vaccinated against HBV. To our knowledge, this is the first documented case of patient‐to‐patient transmission of a bloodborne pathogen in a dental setting in the United States.
Received 20 April 2006; accepted 15 June 2006; electronically published 21 March 2007.
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(See the editorial commentaries by Hecht et al., on pages 1239–41, and Allos and Schaffner, on pages 1245–7; and the major article by Blick et al., on pages 1250–9.)
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Online publication date: 1-Dec-2008.
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Online publication date: 23-Sep-2008.
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Online publication date: 1-May-2007.
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Potential conflicts of interest: none reported.
The use of trade names is for informational purposes only and does not constitute endorsement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The findings and conclusions in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This article is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Omana Nainan.
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Present affiliation: Prevention Branch, Division of Viral Hepatitis, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.