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Exposure to blood; what healthcare personnel need to know
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Updated July 2003
[PDF-329.19 KB]
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Description:Healthcare personnel are at risk for occupational exposure to bloodborne patho- gens, including hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Exposures occur through needlesticks or cuts from other sharp instruments contaminated with an infected patient's blood or through contact of the eye, nose, mouth, or skin with a patient's blood. Important factors that influence the overall risk for occupational exposures to bloodborne pathogens include the number of infected individuals in the patient population and the type and number of blood contacts. Most exposures do not result in infection. Following a specific exposure, the risk of infection may vary with factors such as these: The pathogen involved; The type of exposure; The amount of blood involved in the exposure; The amount of virus in the patient's blood at the time of exposure. Your employer should have in place a system for reporting exposures in order to quickly evaluate the risk of infection, inform you about treatments available to help prevent infection, monitor you for side effects of treatments, and determine if infection occurs. This may involve testing your blood and that of the source patient and offering appropriate postexposure treatment.
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Content Notes:Updated July 2003.
Information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion and Division of Viral Hepatitis.
Mode of access: Internet from the CDC web site. Address as of 1621/07: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/hip/blood/Exp%5Fto%5FBlood.pdf; current access available via PURL.
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