Nosocomial transmission of hepatitis C virus from an anesthesiologist to three patients--epidemiologic and molecular evidence.

Acute hepatitis C occurred in three patients who had undergone gynecologic surgery in an outpatient clinic on a single day. Epidemiologic and virologic investigations revealed virus transmission from an anesthesiologist with chronic hepatitis C. HCV sequencing demonstrated that all four persons were infected by the same strain. The precise mode of transmission could not be elucidated but hygienic standards had been severely neglected.