Occupational exposure to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-infected blood in Denver, Colorado, police officers

Details

• Personal Author:
  Henderson N ; Hoffman, Richard E. ; O'Keefe K ; Wood RC
• Description:
  A study of officers working for the Denver, Colorado police department was undertaken to document how exposures to blood and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) occur and to measure the risk of exposure by type of work assignment. All officers employed by the Denver policy department from December of 1989 through March of 1991 were included in the study population. Exposure was defined as having contact with blood or a body fluid with visible blood on an open or fresh wound, skin lesion, or mucous membrane, or sustaining a needlestick or puncture wound with an object that had blood on or in it. The study indicated that these officers had exposure to blood in every type of enforcement assignment, but that the actual rate of such an exposure was quite small. The rates of exposure were based on self reports, and may have been falsely low. A total of 42 exposures to blood were documented; 24 involved blood contact with nonintact skin, six involved blood contact with mucous membranes, six resulted from bites, four involved needlesticks, and two were from lacerations by objects with blood on the surface of the object. Two thirds of the 42 exposures reported occurred under circumstances in which there was little or no time for the officer to put on protective gloves and clothing as the officer was restraining or being assaulted by a suspect, or gloves would not have been protective as a penetration by a needle occurred. Eleven officers were exposed to blood from HIV infected source persons or from persons whose HIV status was unknown. None of the 11 officers experienced HIV seroconversion over the following 6 months. The results showed that Denver police officers were exposed to blood in every type of enforcement assignment, but the actual rate of such an exposure was quite small. The rate of exposure per 10,000 person days varied from 0.09 for investigation assignments to 1.52 for urban street crime assignments. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome Communicable Diseases Hematologic Tests HIV Law Enforcement Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Viral Diseases

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• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Acquired-immune-deficiency-syndrome AIDS-virus Author Keywords: Blood Blood-analysis Disease-transmission Infectious-diseases Law-enforcement-workers NIOSH-Cooperative-Agreement NIOSH-Publication Occupational-exposure Occupational Exposure Police Policemen Viral-infections

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• ISSN:
  0002-9262
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; OSHA Region 8
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  139
• Issue:
  9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00222202
• Citation:
  Am J Epidemiol 1994 May; 139(9):910-917
• Contact Point Address:
  Dr. Richard E. Hoffman, Colorado Department of Health, Division of Disease Control and Environmental Epidemiology, 4300 Cherry Creek Drive South, Denver, CO 80222-1530
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1994
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Epidemiology
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9d0195d644c3798e7aa63e5bac7450dd54e5cd7be44ceedbfcfccf83e4994dd91b8128196445f5626c0c68989d0181170e0f2003eecb3a04c92a85b4082b4fbf
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/205238/cdc_205238_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 512.48 KB ]