Nosocomial Transmission of Hepatitis B Virus Associated with the Use of a Spring-Loaded Finger-Stick Device

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Abstract
From June 1989 through March 1990, 26 patients, of whom 23 had diabetes, contracted acute hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in a hospital in California. All 26 patients and one HBV carrier (also a diabetic) had been admitted to a single medical ward during the six months before the case patients became infected with HBV. To determine the source of the infection, we conducted a retrospective cohort study of the 72 patients with diabetes who had been admitted to the ward from January through December 1989 and a case–control study comparing the 3 nondiabetic patients who contracted hepatitis with 20 nondiabetic controls.