Needlesticks Can Lead to Serious Infections
Healthcare professionals can experience serious bloodborne pathogen exposure due to needlesticks, including:
- Hepatitis C transmission, the most frequent infection from needlesticks
- Hepatitis B
- Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) disease
Hepatitis C Transmission
Of healthcare workers who become infected from an accidental needlestick injury, approximately 85% become chronic carriers of hepatitis C. The transmission rate of hepatitis C from an accidental needlestick is 1 to 10 percent.1
It is possible that thousands of nurses and other clinicians have occupationally acquired hepatitis C through bloodborne pathogen exposure and remain unaware of their disease. Hepatitis C carriers have the potential to spread the disease to others including their partners and close family members, thereby making widespread hepatitis C transmission a serious societal consequence of needlestick injuries.
Hepatitis C can lead to liver failure, liver transplants and liver cancer. There is no cure for Hepatitis C, but drugs to slow the progression of hepatitis C are available, but can cost thousands of dollars each month.
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B is one of few bloodborne diseases that is now preventable thanks to the vaccine that must be offered to healthcare workers. For a susceptible person, the risk from a single needlestick injury or cut exposure to HBV-infected blood is 6 - 30 percent.2
HIV
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the virus that causes AIDS. The average risk of HIV infection after a needlestick injury or cut exposure to HIV-infected blood is 0.3 percent.3
While advances in treatment prolong the time before HIV becomes AIDS, drug therapy can cost up to $6,000 per month.
1 CDC, National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention
2 "Exposure to Blood; What Healthcare Personnel Need to Know," CDC, July 2003
3 "Exposure to Blood; What Healthcare Personnel Need to Know," CDC, July 2003