“…I would stress that the nosocomial epidemiology of occupational HCV infection remains somewhat unclear. The overwhelming majority of infections are associated with parenteral exposures (46, 210,223,230,237,238,282,297,299,300,325,330,349,351), although two of the anecdotal reports describe infection associated with mucosal splashes (284,293). Delineating additional factors associated with occupational risk has been difficult for a variety of reasons, the most problematic of which is the fact that our current understanding of the pathogenesis, host response, and other early events in HCV infection is not precise.…”