Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-89-055-2043: George Washington University School of Medicine; Washington, D.C.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Moss, C. Eugene ; Suruda, Anthony J.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the Occupational Medicine Program of the George Washington University School of Medicine (SIC-8062) an evaluation was made of possible clustering of optic neuritis among employees in the pathology department over a 2-year period. All three cases were interviewed, and blood samples drawn for viral studies. No common factors were identified to explain these cases. Only one employee was actively involved in handling human tissue specimens. The other two cases both worked in the offices adjacent to areas where viral studies were done. All blood samples were negative for antibody to HTLV-I. Urine screening for heavy metals was negative in all three cases. The authors conclude that it was not possible to determine the etiology of this cluster of cases. Work practices in this department were observed to follow generally accepted guidelines for the handling of infectious materials, and no specific recommendations are made for changing these practices. The authors recommend that the medical school maintain a log of needlestick injuries as is done for hospital personnel.
• Subjects:
  Communicable Diseases Laboratories Metals Metals, Heavy Occupational Health Poisoning Safety Viral Diseases
• Keywords:
  General Medical And Surgical Hospitals Hazard-Unconfirmed Health Care Workers Heavy-metal-poisoning Heavy Metals HETA-89-055-2043 Infectious-diseases Infectious Materials Laboratory-workers NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Optic Neuritis OSHA Region 3 Retrovirus Viral-diseases Zinc

  More +
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA890552043
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  District of Columbia ; OSHA Region 3
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  8 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00194789
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB91-115295
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, Ohio: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HETA 89-055-2043, 1990 May ; :1-27
• Editor(s):
  Attaway, Julie
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1990
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  8062 - General medical & surgical hospitals - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:31e409defc0d96ef18dd72163475c7b009fc0bad4e9780dc97723295f7fd9472efe71dd53def903fcb2ec99127783ab4603b7161999d5209c2380c9b9f1d95c5
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171728/cdc_171728_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 142.45 KB ]