Eradication of Hepatitis C Virus 1b by Interferon in a Health Care Worker with Acute Hepatitis following Needlestick Transmission from a Patient with Chronic Hepatitis C Unresponsive to Interferon

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Abstract
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) was successfully eradicated by a short course of interferon (IFN) therapy in a nurse with acute HCV infection from a needlestick accident. The source patient had chronic hepatitis C and was a nonresponder to IFN therapy. The HCV genotype was 1b in patients, and a single point mutation (H-->R in amino acid 2218) was observed in the IFN sensitivity-determining region of the nonstructural 5A gene, in comparison with sequences of HCV-J, in HCV RNA from both the source patient (before and after IFN therapy) and the recipient (before IFN therapy). Though the strain transmitted was believed to be IFN-resistant in the patient with chronic hepatitis, the patient with acute hepatitis had a sustained response.