Re: should I worry about hepatitis c?

On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 17:25:57 -0700, dacconverter <seagate1556@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On Aug 4, 6:34 pm, greyhackles <greyhack...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Of course "it" would be classified as an occupational exposure - assuming you
weren't moonlighting at the time ;-)



but is this something that I should report to the hospital's
occupational safety unit?

I may have grabbed onto the sharp end of the suturing needle but I
didn't necessarily stick myself. I didn't have a visible hole on
either glove and I didn't bleed or get any skin tears.

I don't know if my experience qualifies as an occupational exposure
defined by my hospital.

Also, this patient had extraordinarily high liver enzyme volmes
( would this usually correlate to high hcv viral loads? ) , and I'm
not sure if this justifies my worries in that I might have contracted
hcv.

Extraordinarily high liver enzymes do not automatically correlate with high
viral load. One has to consider time, at least: someone chronically infected
for decades with relatively low viral load may well express higher LFTs than
someone with a much higher titre but decades shorter duration. And even that
caveat doesn't explain why there's really no LFT vs VL relationship in the
presence of chronic HCV.

So, you have two issues you're worried about, yes? Obviously, whether you
managed to infect yourself is the big one; but there's also your concern about
how this episode reflects on you in the eyes of the administration, if you
report what happened (and particularly, that you grabbed a suture needle
without using forceps).

So....I see two choices: get tested at another facility (paying cash, of
course), and don't report the event; or, report the event and get tested right
there.

As a technoid-dweeb, I would expect the incident should be reported, if only
to keep system-wide statistics honest. And I think you've scared yourself
enough that you're unlikely to make the same technical mistake again. If you
express your chagrin properly, what's the likelihood there'd be any
ramifications - assuming you're not HCV+ now?

Finally, I rather doubt you did, in fact, infect yourself. But there's only
one good way to find out, and it starts with an HCV antibody test.

I can see how this could be a tough call.

Good luck on all of it.
Certainly hope you're not "virally enhanced" ;-)

/greyhackles
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: should I worry about hepatitis c?
    ... but is this something that I should report to the hospital's ... I may have grabbed onto the sharp end of the suturing needle but I ... this patient had extraordinarily high liver enzyme volmes ...
    (sci.med.diseases.hepatitis)
  • Re: should I worry about hepatitis c?
    ... either glove and I didn't bleed or get any skin tears. ... If you were wearing a mask and gloves as you should, ... No accident report unless there was a break in the skin. ...
    (sci.med.diseases.hepatitis)
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