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Control of Occupational Hepatitis B Among Healthcare Workers in the Czech Republic, 1982 to 1995

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Jaroslav Helcl ,
Jitka Cástková ,
Cestmir Benes ,
Lenka Novotna ,
Kent A Sepkowitz  and
Jack A. DeHovitz
Jaroslav Helcl
Affiliation:
National Institute of Public Health, Prague, Czech Republic
Jitka Cástková
Affiliation:
National Institute of Public Health, Prague, Czech Republic
Cestmir Benes
Affiliation:
National Institute of Public Health, Prague, Czech Republic
Lenka Novotna
Affiliation:
National Institute of Public Health, Prague, Czech Republic
Kent A Sepkowitz*
Affiliation:
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, New York
Jack A. DeHovitz
Affiliation:
Department of Preventive Medicine, SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn, New York
*
Infectious Disease Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Ave, Box 288, New York, NY 10021
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Abstract

Occupational hepatitis B remains a threat to healthcare workers (HCWs) worldwide, even with availability of an effective vaccine. Despite limited resources for public health, the Czech Republic instituted a mandatory vaccination program for HCWs in 1983. Annual incidence rates of acute hepatitis B were followed prospectively through 1995. Despite giving vaccine intradermally from 1983 to 1989 and intramuscularly as half dose from 1990 to 1995, rates of occupational hepatitis B decreased dramatically, from 177 cases per 100,000 workers in 1982 (before program initiated) to 17 cases per 100,000 in 1995. Among high-risk workers, the effect was even more dramatic (from 587 to 23 per 100,000). We conclude that strong public-health leadership led to control of occupational hepatitis B among HCWs in the Czech Republic, despite limited resources that precluded administering full-dose intramuscular vaccine for much of the program. Application of a similar program should be considered for other countries in regions that currently do not have a hepatitis B vaccination program.

Type
The International Perspective
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 21 , Issue 5 , May 2000 , pp. 343 - 346
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2000

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