Human papillomavirus and surgical smoke: a systematic review.

Objective: To evaluate what is currently known about the risk to surgeons and other operating theatre (OT) staff of human papillomavirus (HPV) transmission and HPV-related disease following surgical smoke exposure.

Methods: A systematic literature search of Embase and Ovid-MEDLINE was undertaken for primary studies relevant to the presence of HPV in surgical smoke, contamination of OT staff with HPV after performing or attending smoke-generating surgical procedures, and the presence of HPV or HPV-related disease in OT staff following occupational surgical smoke exposure. Additional articles were identified by searching the reference lists of relevant published papers.

Seroprevalence of measles antibodies among high-risk healthcare workers in Auckland, New Zealand: additional justification for assumption of age-determined immunity based on local data.

An outbreak of measles in another region of New Zealand prompted our organization to review the measles immunity of healthcare workers. Some studies suggest that age-specific immunity cannot be assumed. In our local setting, however, we found that 893 (98%) of 912 healthcare workers more than 40 years old tested seropositive for measles immunoglobulin G.