National Policy on HIV-Infected Healthcare Workers Questioned

WESTPORT, CT - According to an essay in the October Journal of the American Medical Association, the US policy requiring that healthcare workers inform patients of their hepatitis B virus (HBV) or HIV infection status should be changed.

The desire for change stems from the lack of transmission of the virus from healthcare workers to patients. Through July 1999, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have not documented a single case of HIV transmission from the 63 HIV-infected healthcare workers to any of their more than 22,000 patients. Moreover, apart from a single cluster of cases in 1992, no provider-to-patient case of HBV transmission has been documented in the United States. For more information visit www.hepatitis.com.