A Healthcare-Associated Outbreak of HCV Genotype 2a at a Clinic in Seoul

ABSTRACT

Objectives@#An epidemiological investigation was conducted into a hepatitis C virus (HCV) outbreak at an outpatients clinic in Seoul (2011-2012). The aim of the study was to analyze the scale of infection, identify the source of infection, and route of transmission to prevent hepatitis C transmission in the future. @*Methods@#A retrospective study of the outpatients and health care workers (n = 7,285) in the target outpatient clinic during 2011-2012 was conducted. The history of the study population infection with hepatitis C, electronic medical records, field visits, and health care worker interviews were examined for the period between March 1>st , 2006 and March 25th , 2016. The blood samples were collected and tested for anti-HCV antibodies, HCV RNA and HCV gene in 2016. @*Results@#The rate of anti-HCV positive results was 4.4% in the study population. The risk factors associated with an anti-HCV positive result were ≥ 10 clinic visits, and receiving an invasive procedure including a nerve block and a block of the peripheral branch of the spinal nerve (p < 0.05). There were 112 HCV RNA positive cases out of 320 anti-HCV positive test result cases, amongst which 100 cases had the dominant HCV genotype 2a which formed either 1 cluster (n = 56) or 2 clusters (n = 25). This result indicated exposure to a high-association infection source. @*Conclusion@#Anti-HCV antibodies and genotypic analysis showed an epidemiological association between the outbreak of HCV and invasive procedures performed (2011-2012) at an outpatients clinic in Seoul.