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British Journal of Anaesthesia, 1977, Vol. 49, No. 9 887-889
© 1977 The Board of Management and Trustees of the British Journal of Anaesthesia

other

HEPATITIS-B VIRUS INFECTION IN ANAESTHETISTS

J. CARSTENS, F.F.A.(S.A.), G. M. MACNAB, PH.D. and M. C. KEW, PH.D., M.D., M.R.C.P.

Departments of Anaesthetics and Medicine, Baragwanath and Johannesburg Hospitals and the University of the Witwatersrand, and the School of Pathology of the South African Institute for Medical Research Johannesburg, South Africa

To determine whether anaesthetists are at risk from developing hepatitis-B virus (HBV) infection from their patients, 95 anaesthetists working with black South Africans (who have a high prevalence of hepatitis-B antigenaemia) were questioned about attacks of viral hepatitis and their blood was tested for hepatitis-B (surface) antigen (HBsAg) and antibody (Anti-HBs). Anti-HBs was detected in the serum of 17.9% of the anaesthetists, but none was a chronic carrier of HBsAg. Two anaesthetists had suffered from acute viral hepatitis during their careers, one of whom is now positive for Anti-HBs. Forty-five of the anaesthetists (47.4%) were known to have anaesthetized patients with HBs antigenaemia, and of these seven were Anti-HBs-positive. Anaesthetists working with a population having a high carrier rate of HBV appear to be more at risk from HBV infection than the general population.


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