Who is at risk of infection?

Staff: Service providers are at significant risk of infection because they are exposed to potentially infectious blood and other body fluids on a daily basis. Staff who process instruments and other items, clean up after procedures, clean operating theaters and procedure rooms, and dispose of waste are particularly at risk. Client-to-health care worker transmission can occur through exposure to infectious blood and other body fluids:

• When a health care worker's skin is pierced or cut by contaminated needles or sharp instruments
• When fluids are splashed on the mucous membranes of the health care worker (e.g., eyes, nose, or mouth)
• Through broken skin due to cuts, scratches, rash, acne, chapped skin, or fungal infections

NOTE: Almost all cases of hepatitis B and HIV transmission to health care workers have occurred through preventable accidents, such as puncture wounds.

Clients: Clients are at risk of postprocedure infection when, for example, service providers do not wash their hands between clients and procedures, when they do not adequately prepare clients before a clinical procedure, and when used instruments and other items are not cleaned and processed correctly.

NOTE: It is very rare for clients to get a bloodborne infection like HIV from an infected health care worker. Because this risk is so small, in most cases infected health care workers should not be kept from their regular activities based solely on their medical diagnoses.

Community: The community is also at risk of infection, particularly from inappropriate disposal of medical waste, such as contaminated sharps. Improperly disposed of medical waste--including contaminated dressings, tissue, needles, syringes, and scalpel blades--can be found by children or others scavenging in open dumps, or can scatter on the ground where adults and children travel, putting them at risk of injury and infection. In addition, some infections can be spread by staff to their family members or others in the community. For example, the Ebola virus outbreak in Africa in 1995 was spread throughout communities, in part, because of poor infection prevention practices in health care facilities.

Infection prevention is everybody's business. Just as everyone who works at a health care facility is at risk of infection, every health care worker has a role to play in practicing appropriate infection prevention. In order for infection prevention to be effective, each staff member must do his or her part.

©2004 EngenderHealth