Display Settings:

Format

Send to:

Choose Destination
  • Your browser version may not work well with NCBI's Web applications. More information here...

J Infect Dis. 2007 May 1;195(9):1311-4. Epub 2007 Mar 21.

Patient-to-patient transmission of hepatitis B virus associated with oral surgery.

Redd JT, Baumbach J, Kohn W, Nainan O, Khristova M, Williams I.

Epidemic Intelligence Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. john.redd@ihs.gov

Erratum in:

  • J Infect Dis. 2007 Jun 15;195(12):1874.

Comment in:

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.

PMID: 17397000 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Supplemental Content

Click here to read