Hepatitis C screening and prevalence among urban public safety workers

This study examines the prevalence of anti-hepatitis C virus by using an en zyme-linked immunoassay test (EIA-2) in 2447 volunteers (including 1560 pol ice, 678 fire, and 209 emergency medical service personnel) and a self-repo rted questionnaire on potential occupational and non-occupational risk fact ors. Subjects consisted of 76% men, 54.8% blacks, and 40.3% whites. Twenty- eight individuals (1.1%) tested positive, with prevalence rates of 1.1% and 1.3%, respectively, among blacks and whites. Although firefighters and eme rgency medical service workers had a higher prevalence (2.3% and 2.8%) than police (0.6%), the overall prevalence was lower than that typical of urban populations. In a multivariate analysis, the most important risk factors w ere behavioral, with no significant occupational exposure risk observed. Pr eviously reported racial differences were not detected in this study, most likely because the subjects were of similar socioeconomic status.