HIV-Infected Surgeons and Dentists

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Abstract
The recent reports of transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from a Florida dentist with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) to five patients in his practice has heightened concern about the possibility of transmission of HIV from infected health care workers.1-4However, a thorough epidemiologic investigation revealed no deviations from standard infection control practices in the dentist's office that could explain these transmissions.4Thus, the specific mechanism by which HIV was transmitted from the dentist to his patients remains unresolved. See also pp 1795, 1802, and 1807. Although this event frequently has been characterized as an aberration because no other cases of HIV transmission from health care workers to patients have been reported, in fact, it rather closely resembles several previously reported features of hepatitis B virus (HBV) transmission in surgical or dental settings.5-8Typical dentist- or surgeon-to-patient transmission of HBV is likely to produce clusters