Patient-to-Patient Transmission of Hepatitis C Virus during Colonoscopy

Abstract

Invasive diagnostic or therapeutic procedures may be a route for the transmission of the hepatitis C virus (HCV).1–5 In a study of patients in a gastrointestinal-disease unit, endoscopic biopsies were found to be an independent risk factor for HCV infection.6 We report the transmission of HCV during colonoscopy from a person known to have HCV infection to two other patients. The patient-to-patient transmission was ascertained by sequencing the nucleotides in the various HCV isolates. Case Report A 55-year-old man (Patient 1) and his 54-year-old wife (Patient 2) were referred in October 1995. In June 1995, both had had hepatitis-like . . .