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. 2006 Oct;134(5):1102-13.
doi: 10.1017/S0950268806005942. Epub 2006 Jan 26.

Outbreak of hepatitis B in a nursing home associated with capillary blood sampling

J M Dreesman  1 , A Baillot, L Hamschmidt, M Monazahian, U C Wend, W H Gerlich
Affiliations

Outbreak of hepatitis B in a nursing home associated with capillary blood sampling

J M Dreesman et al. Epidemiol Infect. 2006 Oct.

Abstract

In 2001, two residents of a nursing home in Lower Saxony, Germany, were diagnosed with acute hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. A systematic contact investigation of 188 residents yielded 19 confirmed or probable cases of acute or recent HBV infection and three persistent asymptomatic HBsAg carriers. Sequence analysis revealed that one carrier had high viraemia (109 genomes/ml), HBV genotype A2, and the same S gene and/or X gene sequence as 16 acutely infected persons. An unmatched case-control study was conducted with the 17 cases that had sequence identity together with 26 controls. The strongest association was found for treatment by a particular general practitioner (GP) (OR > 11, P < 0.001) and blood sampling for glucose monitoring on a particular day by the GP's staff (OR 13.6, P < 0.001, adjusted OR 8.5, P = 0.017). Control measures were implemented. Serological controls after 6 and 18 months revealed that the outbreak was brought under control.

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Figures

Fig
Fig
Phylogenetic tree of the S gene nucleotide sequences obtained from 17 residents with HBV genotype A2 infection. Patient no. 20 showed one exchange and was probably a chronic asymptomatic carrier. HBV991 is a genotype A2 strain which was cloned in 1980 in Germany with two base exchanges. Genotype A AJ012207AK is the strain from which the WHO International Standard has been derived. The sequences with other genotypes were taken from the gene bank
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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