An Outbreak of Hepatitis B in an Endocrinology Unit Traced to a Capillary-Blood-Sampling Device

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Abstract
Hepatitis B virus infection has been associated with acupuncture.1 We report an outbreak of hepatitis B, probably due to finger pricks for estimations of glucose levels, in a hospital community. Between January 1986 and May 1988, 18 inpatients in an endocrinology department were found to be infected with hepatitis B virus. Nine patients (three men and six women; age range, 37 to 82 years) had acute hepatitis, and nine (seven men and two women; age range, 26 to 85) had a chronic form of the disease. Since it is quite unusual to have so many cases of hepatitis B in this type of department, we looked for an explanation for this outbreak. We discovered that except for 1 patient with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome who was being examined for a thyroid disease and 1 patient hospitalized for fever and myalgia, all the other patients (89 percent; 16 of 18) had been hospitalized for glucose regulation (8 had insulin-dependent diabetes, 7 non-insulin-dependent diabetes, and 1 hypoglycemic attacks). These 16 patients represented 50 percent of the patients hospitalized for glucose regulation (P<0.01).

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