Sharing medical equipment may lead to outbreaks of Hepatitis B, study says

NEW YORK Sharing of medical equipment in healthcare facilities may lead to outbreaks of hepatitis B, according to a study by Italian researchers published in the journal BMC Medicine.

The researchers reviewed 30 papers reporting on 33 outbreaks in the United States and European Union affecting 471 patients between 1992 and 2007 from the PubMed Database and the Outbreak Database. Sixteen cases were fatal.

The researchers found that dialysis units counted for 30.3% of outbreaks. Medical wards and nursing homes accounted for 21.2%, surgery units accounted for 15.2% and outpatient units accounted for 12.1%.

The two biggest routes of viral transmission were multi-vial drugs, which accounted for 30.3% of cases, and non-disposable multi-patient capillary blood-sampling devices, which accounted for 27.2%. Transvenous endymyocardial biopsy procedures and multiple deficiencies in applying standards each counted for 9.1% of cases.