Table 1.
Demographic and clinical history data of the study subjects (n = 52)
| Parameter | Total n (%) | Result fora: |
P value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Responders (n = 29 [55.8%]) | Nonresponders (n = 23 [44.2%]) | |||
| Age (yr ± SD) | 31 ± 8.2 | 30.0 ± 7.3 | 32.3 ± 7.3 | 0.169 |
| No. (%) female | 17 (32.7) | 10 (34.5) | 7 (30.4) | 0.852b |
| No. (%) with rural residence | 30 (57.7) | 15 (51.7) | 15 (65.2) | 0.345b |
| Duration of current job (yr ± SD) | 8.3 ± 0.9 | 7.7 ± 1.1 | 9.0 ± 1.5 | 0.238 |
| No. (%) in occupational category | ||||
| Physician/medical student | 9 (17.3) | 3 (10.3) | 6 (26.1) | |
| Nursing staff/student | 18 (34.6) | 14 (48.3) | 4 (17.4) | |
| Lab technician | 3 (5.8) | 3 (10.3) | 0 | 0.900b |
| Housekeeping | 10 (19.2) | 2 (6.9) | 8 (34.8) | |
| Other | 11 (21.2) | 7 (24.1) | 4 (17.4) | |
| No. positive for HBsAg | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| No. (%) with history of HBV vaccination | 32 (61.5) | 16 (55.2) | 16(69.6) | 0.103 |
| No. (%) anti-HBs positive | 32 (61.5) | 18 (62.1) | 14 (60.8) | 0.455 |
| No. (%) with Schistosoma mansoni antibodies | 20 (38.5) | 10 (34.5) | 10 (43.5) | 0.218 |
| No. (%) dealing with syringes 3 months earlier | 44 (84.6) | 24 (82.8) | 20 (87.0) | 0.206 |
| No. (%) with needle stick injuries in last year, by no. of sticks | ||||
| Mean | 0.27 ± 0.08 | 0.32 ± 0.13 | 0.19 ± 0.08 | |
| None | 42 (80.8) | 23 (79.3) | 19 (82.6) | |
| 1 | 8 (15.4) | 4 (13.8) | 4 (17.4) | 0.229 |
| 2 | 1 (1.9) | 1 (3.4) | 0 | |
| 3–5 | 1 (1.9) | 1 (3.4) | 0 | |
| >5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| No. with history of clinical jaundice/hepatitis | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mean ± SD ALT level (IU/liter−1) | 29.1 ± 2.3 | 29.7 ± 3.2 | 28.3 ± 3.9 | 0.39 |
a
Responders and nonresponders are those individuals who elicited or failed to elicit, respectively, a positive HCV-specific IFN-γ response by ELISpot assay to one to seven HCV genotype 4a overlapping 15-mer peptide pools.
b
Mann-Whitney U test was used for the analysis.