THE NATIONAL
HEPATITIS C INSTITUTE
The Hepatitis C Awareness & Prevention Campaign


Serving the Hepatitis C Community

 
Tables for:
Hepatitis C - Contamination of Toothbrushes: Myth or Reality?
 
[J Viral Hepat.  2006;13(9):571-573.  ©2006 Blackwell Publishing]

Table 1. Positive and Negative HCV-RNA in the Collected Specimen
 

  HCV-RNA-negative HCV-RNA-positive
All specimens (n = 90) 58 (64.4) 32 (35.6)
Saliva before toothbrushing (n = 30) 21 (70) 9 (30)
Saliva after toothbrushing (n = 30) 19 (63.3) 11 (36.7)
Toothbrush rinsing water (n = 30) 18 (60) 12 (40)

Values in parentheses are percentages.

Table 2. HCV-RNA in the Saliva Specimen Before Toothbrushing As Compared to HCV-RNA in the Toothbrush Rinsing Water

  Rinsing water
HCV-RNA- negative HCV-RNA- positive Total
Saliva before tooth-brushing HCV-RNA-negative 15 6 21
HCV-RNA-positive 3 6 9
Total 18 12 30

Table 3. Clinical, Biochemical, Virological and Histological Parameters In Patients With HCV-RNA-negative Compared With Patients With HCV-RNA-positive Toothbrush Rinsing Water
Parameter Toothbrush rinsing water HCV-RNA-negative Toothbrush rinsing water HCV-RNA-positive P-value
Oral hygiene [1–3] 2.3 ± 0.8 2.2 ± 0.7 n.s. (0.53)
Papillary bleeding index (%) 19.8 ± 11.6 27.8 ± 20.7 n.s. (0.19)
HCV-RNA load in serum (copies/mL) 6.33 ± 6.3 × 106 8.87 ± 11.3 ×106 n.s. (0.64)
ALT (U/L) 93 ± 79 53 ± 24 n.s. (0.14)
Bilirubin (mg/dL) 0.8 ± 0.3 0.77 ± 0.4 n.s. (0.8)
Prothrombin time (%) 87.5 ± 11.6 96.3 ± 1.7 n.s. (0.8)
Histological staging* 1.53 ± 0.99 1.9 ± 1.2 n.s. (0.91)
Histological grading† 1.66 ± 1.3 2.0 ± 1.1 n.s. (0.5)

Data available in *n = 26 and †n = 25 patients.
n.s. = not significant.