BackgroundsWith 10% of the general population aged 15–59 years chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), Egypt is the country with the highest HCV prevalence worldwide. Healthcare workers (HCWs) are therefore at particularly high risk of HCV infection. Our aim was to study HCV infection risk after occupational blood exposure among HCWs in Cairo.Methodology/Principal FindingsThe study was conducted in 2008–2010 at Ain Shams University Hospital, Cairo. HCWs reporting an occupational blood exposure at screening, having neither anti-HCV antibodies (anti-HCV) nor HCV RNA, and exposed to a HCV RNA positive patient, were enrolled in a 6-month prospective cohort with follow-up visits at weeks 2, 4, 8, 12 and 24. During follow-up, anti-HCV, HCV RNA and ALT were tested. Among 597 HCWs who reported a blood exposure, anti-HCV prevalence at screening was 7.2%, not different from that of the general population of Cairo after age-standardization (11.6% and 10.4% respectively, p = 0.62). The proportion of HCV viremia among index patients was 37%. Of 73 HCWs exposed to HCV RNA from index patients, nine (12.3%; 95%CI, 5.8–22.1%) presented transient viremia, the majority of which occurred within the first two weeks after exposure. None of the workers presented seroconversion or elevation of ALT.Conclusions/SignificanceHCWs of a general University hospital in Cairo were exposed to a highly viremic patient population. They experienced frequent occupational blood exposures, particularly in early stages of training. These exposures resulted in transient viremic episodes without established infection. These findings call for further investigation of potential immune protection against HCV persistence in this high risk group.

Summary Setting Cairo and Giza governorates of Egypt. Background Particulate matter under 2.5 μm in diameter (PM2.5) arises from diverse sources, including tobacco smoke from cigarettes and waterpipes, and is recognized as a cause of acute and chronic morbidity and mortality. Objective To measure PM2.5 in workplaces with different intensities of smoking and varying levels of smoking restrictions. Design We conducted an air sampling study to measure PM2.5 levels in a convenience sample of indoor and outdoor venues in 2005–2006. Results Using a calibrated SidePak instrument, 3295 individual measurements were collected at 96 venues. Compared to indoor venues where tobacco smoking was banned (PM2.5 levels 72–81 μg/m3), places offering waterpipes to patrons of cafes (478 μg/m3) and Ramadan tents (612 μg/m3) had much higher concentrations, as did venues such as public buildings with poor enforcement of smoking restrictions (range 171–704 μg/m3). Both the number of waterpipe smokers and the number of cigarette smokers observed at each venue contributed significantly to the overall burden of PM2.5. Conclusion Such data will support smoke-free policies and programs aimed specifically at reducing environmental tobacco exposure and improving air quality in general, and will provide a baseline for monitoring the impact of tobacco control policies.

Smoking status significantly affects the knowledge, attitude, and some practices of physicians related to smoking cessation counselling. Training on smoking cessation should be enforced during undergraduate and postgraduate studies of physicians.

Background: The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats. Smoking prevalence and smoking cessation intentions among physicians vary from a country/community to another. Recently, a global reduction in the rates of smoking among healthcare providers is observed. Aim: This study aims to describe the effect of physicians' smoking status on their knowledge, attitude, opinions, and practices of smoking cessation in patients in a Tertiary Healthcare University Hospital in Cairo, Egypt. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out at four specialized hospitals in a Tertiary Healthcare University Hospital in Cairo. Anonymous questionnaires included sociodemographic, occupational data, history of smoking, smoking-related knowledge, attitude, and practices of smoking cessation counselling. Results: The study included 521 physicians, 26.5% of physicians have never received training on smoking-cessation approaches. The prevalence of current smoking among the studied physicians was 21.5%. Only 45.5% of smoking physicians have never smoked in front of a patient and 27.7% have no compliance to the smoke-free policy in nonsmoking areas. Smoking physicians were significantly less likely than nonsmokers to identify the effect of passive smoking on the heart, lungs, and on neonates (67.9, 58.9, and 53.6% compared with 83.6, 77, 60, and 56.7%, respectively). A lower percentage of smoking physicians (34.8%) agreed that smoking physicians are less likely to convince patients to quit smoking compared with about 60% of nonsmoking physicians. The practices related to smoking cessation as reported by both smokers and nonsmokers were inadequate. Conclusion: Smoking status significantly affects the knowledge, attitude, and some practices of physicians related to smoking cessation counselling. Training on smoking cessation should be enforced during undergraduate and postgraduate studies of physicians.

Background Workplace violence (WPV) has been recognized as a major occupational hazard worldwide. Healthcare professions are particularly at a higher risk of WPV. Patients and their relatives are commonly the most common perpetrators for WPV against physicians. Trainings on the universal precautions of violence, how to effectively anticipate, recognize and manage potentially violent situation is recommended by OSHA as a part of a written, effective, comprehensive, and interactive WPV prevention program. Objective To implement and evaluate the effectiveness of a training session delivered to nurses. The training session aimed to increase nurses’ ability to identify potentially violent situations and to effectively manage these situations in a teaching hospital in Egypt. Methodology A total of 99 nurses attended the training sessions. Confidence in coping with aggressive patient scale, along with nurses’ attitudes toward WPV, were used to assess the effectiveness of the training sessions. Results Nurses’ perceived confidence to deal with aggression increased after attending the training sessions. Nurses’ attitudes toward WPV positively changed after attending the training session. Conclusion and recommendations Increasing awareness of the problem among healthcare professions as well as the public is warranted. Violence prevention program with a zero-tolerance policy is warranted.