UK further restricts the practice of selected hepatitis C infected healthcare workers

The Department of Health in England has issued new guidance on the management of hepatitis C infected healthcare workers (1,2). Previous guidance in the United Kingdom (UK) recommended that healthcare workers infected with hepatitis C should be restricted from undertaking exposure prone procedures (EPPs) only if they had been associated with transmission of infection to a patient (3). Since these recommendations were made, however, there have been five documented incidents in England and Wales (4-8), one in Spain (9), and two in Germany (10,11) in which infected healthcare workers have transmitted hepatitis C infection to patients during EPPs.