Risk of hepatitis C virus transmission from an infected gynecologist to patients: results of a 7-year retrospective investigation.

Background: Currently, it is not known how often hepatitis C virus (HCV) is transmitted from infected health care workers to patients during medical care. In the present investigation, we tried to determine the rate of provider-to-patient transmission of HCV among former patients of an HCV-positive gynecologist after it was proven that he infected one of his patients with HCV during a cesarean section.

Methods: All 2907 women who had been operated on by the HCV-positive gynecologist between July 1993 and March 2000 were notified about potential exposure and were offered free counseling and testing.