Blood Borne Pathogens

Bloodborn pathogens are something that everyone is at risk of contracting at some time or another. Your blood stream can be exposed to other foreign blood that enters through various means such as sexual contact or contact through the transfusion of blood by another infected individual.

One group of people that is most commonly in danger of this kind of exposure are healthcare personnel. At a hospital, there are commonly many patients who have been infected with blood borne pathogens and whose blood may come in contact with the blood of a hospital worker. This is called “occupational exposure” and it is one of the most common forms of exposure to bloodborne pathogens. The other most common form is through sexual contact with a person who is infected.

The various typed of blood borne pathogens include the hepatitis B virus, the human immunodefi ciency virus and the hepatitis C virus. These exposures happen when a needle may be transferred between two people or when there is a cut that is made from a contaminated sharp instrument. The instrument could have already been exposed to another infected person's blood. There can also be a spread that occurs through the mouth, nose, eye or skin that comes in contact with another person’s blood. Sexually transmitted bloodborne pathogens include the HIV virus which can be avoided by using protection during sex.

Bloodborne pathogen training is an important aspect of avoiding contamination to hospital workers. Workers are often taught about the
osha blood borne pathogens through the study of the bloodborne pathogen booklet in warehouse outlets and as it is distributed widely through the bloodborne pathogens program. There is also a widely distributed bloodborne pathogens fact sheet that hospital workers and even patients can learn from in order to avoid contamination.

Blood borne pathogens are certainly a very serious situation that needs to be monitored if we are to maintain a high level of health in our hospitals and treatment facilities. This is why hospital professionals take the utmost care to provide adequate training and information to their employees and to their patents so that the spread of these pathogens will not be too great. With the proper training and exposure to the facts, bloodborne pathogens do not have to become a serious epidemic as they used to be in the past. Patients can rest assured that they are safe from the spread of infection anytime they visit a hospital setting.