HCV infection and diabetes mellitus: Influence of the use of finger stick devices on nosocomial transmission

An increased prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in patients wi th diabetes mellitus has suggested a link between these two conditions and the possibility of patient-to-patient HCV transmission during hospital admi ssions in diabetes units. We investigated the prevalence of HCV antibodies in 259 patients with diabetes mellitus consecutively admitted to our diabet ic unit in 1998. The control group was composed of 14.100 volunteer blood d onors. We divided the diabetic patients into two groups according to their HCV antibody status and also analysed patients far the following variables: age, disease duratian, diabetes treatment, previous hospital admissions in a diabetes unit and use of finger stick devices. Anti-HCV antibodies were detected in 8 diabetic patients and 6 blood donors (3.09% vs 0.04%, p<0.001 ). No differences were observed between anti-HCV-positive and anti-HCV-nega tive diabetic patients in terms of made of treatment, previous hospital adm issions in a diabetic unit and use of finger stick devices far capillary bl ood sampling. Our findings indicate that these medical practices play no ro le in nosocomial transmission of HCV in diabetic patients.