When determining the need for postexposure evaluation and follow-up in occupational settings, what body fluids are potentially infectious?
When evaluating occupational exposures to fluids that might contain hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), health care workers should consider blood and all body fluids containing visible blood as infectious, and cerebral spinal fluid, synovial fluid, pleural fluid, peritoneal fluid, pericardial fluid, and amniotic fluid as potentially infectious. Feces, nasal secretions, saliva, sputum, sweat, tears, urine, and vomitus are not considered potentially infectious unless they contain blood. However, during dental procedures it is predictable that saliva will become contaminated with blood. If blood is not visible, it is likely that only very small quantities of blood are present and that the risk for transmission of HBV, HCV, or HIV is extremely small. Despite this small risk of transmission, a qualified health care professional1 should evaluate any occupational exposure 2 to saliva in dental settings, regardless of the presence of visible
Related Questions
- When determining the need for postexposure evaluation and follow-up in occupational settings, what body fluids are potentially infectious?
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