NCJ Number
143602
Journal
Keepers' Voice Volume: 14 Issue: 2 Dated: (Spring 1993) Pages: 15-19
Date Published
1993
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Hepatitis B poses a greater risk to medical professionals than does HIV, so they should use universal precautions for infection control, take the hepatitis B vaccine, and be aware of how they can contract the disease through occupational exposure in prisons and other settings.
Abstract
Those most likely to carry the virus include intravenous drug abusers, sexually active homosexual or bisexual men, hemodialysis patients, and immigrants from certain areas. Through exposure at work, at least 12,000 health care workers are infected each year in the United States, and about 250 of them die of the disease. In Michigan, prison guards and correctional workers are being inoculated against hepatitis B under a federally mandated program. The National Safety Council has also developed the Bloodborne Pathogens Training Program to help reduce the risk of infection. Health care workers should protect both themselves and their patients by the general precautions, by washing their hands thoroughly before going from one patient to another, and by making certain that any equipment used by more than one patient is properly disinfected or sterilized. Illustrations, chart, and 7 references