Article

Decrease in the hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence in hemodialysis patients in Spain: effect of time, initiating HCV prevalence studies and adoption of isolation measures.

Department of Nephrology, Hospital Universitario de la Princesa, Diego de León 62, 28006 Madrid, Spain.
Antiviral Research (impact factor: 4.3). 11/2003; 60(2):129-34. pp.129-34
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT The effectiveness of isolation measures to prevent hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in hemodialysis units is a controversial issue. Strict adherence to the universal infection control precautions has been deemed adequate to prevent nosocomial transmission of HCV. Subsequently, however, select isolation measures, such as the clustering of HCV positive patients in a defined sector of the unit, have been adopted, specially for those units with a high HCV prevalence and when the personnel-patient ratio was such that it could involuntary favor the break of the universal precautions. In this Multicenter Spanish Study on HCV in Dialysis, the importance of both time and isolation measures led to a decrease of HCV prevalence. Time was the most important factor (although interacting with the isolation measures) and was independent of the initial HCV prevalence.

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Keywords

clustering
 
controversial issue
 
decrease
 
defined sector
 
HCV
 
HCV positive patients
 
HCV prevalence
 
hemodialysis units
 
hepatitis C virus
 
initial HCV prevalence
 
interacting
 
isolation measures
 
Multicenter Spanish Study
 
nosocomial transmission
 
Strict adherence
 
universal infection control precautions
 
universal precautions
 

Guillermina Barril