Blood-Borne Pathogens Among Firefighters and Emergency Medical Technicians

Details

• Personal Author:
  Boal, Winifred L. ; Hales, Thomas R. ; Ross, Clara S.
• Description:
  Firefighters and emergency medical services (EMS) personnel have the potential for occupational exposures to blood, which increases their risk for occupational blood-borne infection. To address this concern, the authors conducted a literature review of occupational blood exposures, the seroprevalence of blood-borne pathogens among these workers, and the seroprevalence of blood-borne pathogens among the patients they serve. A MEDLINE search was conducted, and all identified articles that described surveys of exposures to blood or surveillance of blood-borne infections among firefighters and/or emergency medical technicians (EMTs) in the United States were reviewed. For hepatitis B, only seroprevalence surveys conducted after the 1992 requirement by the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard to offer vaccination to potentially exposed employees were included. From these data, the expected number of annual occupational hapatitis C virus seroconversions was estimated to be between 5.8 and 118.9 per 100,000 employee-years for EMT-paramedics, between 3.4 and 33.7 per 100,000 for firefighter-EMTs, and up to 3.6 per 100,000 for firefighters (non-EMT). This review suggests there are a limited number of studies addressing this issue, and these studies have numerous limitations. Despite the expected occupational seroconversions and recognizing the limitations in drawing conclusions from these studies, it appears that firefighters and EMS personnel do not have an elevated seroprevalence of hepatitis C virus compared with the general population. Improved exposure surveillance programs would clarify exposure risks and identify potential interventions for firefighters and EMS personnel. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Blood Blood-Borne Pathogens Communicable Diseases Emergency Responders Firefighters Health Personnel Hematologic Diseases Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety

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• Keywords:
  Bloodborne-pathogens Emergency-responders Fire-fighters Fire-fighting Health-care-personnel Hepatitis Medical-personnel Occupational-exposure Occupational-hazards Occupational-health Risk-analysis Risk-factors

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• ISSN:
  1090-3127
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• 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:
  236-247
• Volume:
  9
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20028944
• Citation:
  Prehosp Emerg Care 2005 Apr-Jun; 9(2):236-247
• Contact Point Address:
  Winifred L. Boal, MPH, Surveillance Branch, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 4676 Columbia Parkway, R-17, Cincinnati, OH 45226
• Email:
  wboal@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2005
• NORA Priority Area:
  Disease and Injury: Infectious Diseases
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Prehospital Emergency Care
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:391adeb6201c85b629df7ef11e5e1c9430bcfca98e207c6ce41d967ccdee02fcd577674030a613f3b62ebd5265c6014ccf97af16ebf736b58097c11fd7be6bee
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/190032/cdc_190032_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 266.93 KB ]