Tolerability, safety, and acceptability of zidovudine prophylaxis in health care workers.

Objective: To evaluate the safety, tolerability, and acceptability of zidovudine used for prevention of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission to health care workers.

Methods: Prospective study between January 1989 and December 1992 at a suburban New York City medical center of health care workers who had percutaneous or permucosal exposures to blood or body fluids of HIV-infected patients. The zidovudine regimen offered was 200 mg orally every 4 hours for 42 days.

Hepatitis C infection in the health care setting. I. Low risk from parenteral exposure to blood of human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients.

Many patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection have also been infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). To understand better the epidemiology of HCV infection in the health care setting, HCV antibody testing was done for 125 health care workers who had experienced parenteral exposures to blood of HIV-infected patients and for 33 control health care workers without such exposures. Of the 158 health care workers studied, two (1.