Abstract

VALENTE, Cristina; FERNANDES, Cláudia  and  TRINDADE, Luís. Acute viral hepatitis C in the health care worker - review based on a clinical case. J Port Gastrenterol. [online]. 2010, vol.17, n.6, pp.255-261. ISSN 0872-8178.

Hepatitis C virus infection (HCV) is a major cause of chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Symptomatic acute hepatitis C occurs in only about 10 - 15% and in these individuals spontaneous clearance happens in almost half of the patients; on the other hand the majority of asymptomatic cases progress to chronicity. HCV transmission following a needle stick is an important threat to health care workers. Monitoring these professionals, is the best way to provide the rationale for treating them in the acute phase in order to prevent chronic evolution. Those patients who have detectable HCV-RNA at week 12 after exposure are potential candidates to treatment. Several studies have shown that treatment of acute HCV hepatitis is beneficial, achieving rates of success of 90 - 95%.

Keywords : Acute hepatitis C; health care workers; treatment.

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