SEROPREVALENCE OF HEPATITIS-B AND HEPATITIS-C IN A MERSEYSIDE HOSPITAL FOR THE MENTALLY-HANDICAPPED

This study reports the prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis B virus ( HBV) and C virus (HCV), and the frequency of potential exposure to the se viruses among patients and staff in six long-stay wards of a hospit al caring for mentally handicapped adults from the Mersey region. A re trospective survey of risk behaviour among 134 patients and questionna ire survey of 75 nursing staff was performed. Serum samples from both groups were tested for HBV markers and patient sera for antibodies to HC)V by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). None of the 102 pat ients tested had antibodies against HCV, although 17 had detectable an tibody to HBV core (anti-HBc). Seven out of the 17 were positive for H BV surface antigen. None was positive for IgM antibody to HBV core. On ly 1 out of 61 staff had anti-HBc and none was positive for surface an tigen. Twenty-nine of 75 (39%) staff reported bites sufficient to brea k the skin and 52 (69%) significant other injuries from patients; 25 ( 31%) of staff had not received HBV vaccination None of the patients ha d received HBV vaccine. We conclude that HCV does not appear to be a m ajor hazard in this closed community but the prevalence of HBV markers indicating past exposure among patients is high, vaccine uptake is in complete and incidents which may allow viral transmission are frequent .