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Bloodborne Pathogen Exposure Risk Among Surgeons in Sub-Saharan Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Elayne Kornblatt Phillips ,
Alex Owusu-Ofori  and
Janine Jagger
Elayne Kornblatt Phillips*
Affiliation:
International Healthcare Worker Safety Center, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, Virginia
Alex Owusu-Ofori
Affiliation:
International Healthcare Worker Safety Center, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, Virginia African Healthcare Worker Safety Foundation, Kumasi, Ghana
Janine Jagger
Affiliation:
International Healthcare Worker Safety Center, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, Virginia
*
PO Box 800764, Charlottesville, VA 22908 (ekp2e@virginia.edu)
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Abstract

To document the frequency and circumstances of bloodborne pathogen exposures among surgeons in sub-Saharan Africa, we surveyed surgeons attending the 2006 Pan-African Association of Surgeons conference. During the previous year, surgeons sustained a mean of 3.1 percutaneous injuries, which were typically caused by suture needles. They sustained a mean of 4.1 exposures to blood and body fluid, predominantly from blood splashes to the eyes. Fewer than half of the respondents reported completion of hepatitis B vaccination, and postexposure prophylaxis for human immunodeficiency virus was widely available. Surgeons reported using hands-free passing and blunt suture needles. Non-fluid-resistant cotton gowns and masks were the barrier garments worn most frequently.

Type
Poverty and Human Development: Concise Communications
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 28 , Issue 12 , December 2007 , pp. 1334 - 1336
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2007

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