Bloodborne diseases

As a nursing assistant, you will come in contact with clients that have serious bloodborne diseases. You have to learn about these diseases, how they can be transmitted, and what you can do to protect yourself at work.

A bloodborne disease is an infection that is transmitted from an infected person to a non-infected person via the blood or other body fluids such as urine, feces, vomitus, saliva, sweat, semen, vaginal fluids, breast milk, and amniotic fluid.

In the healthcare environment, transmission can occur via accidental needlesticks and cuts from broken glass items such as blood tubes.

They can also be transmitted due to direct contact of infected fluids with open skin lesions (like cuts and sores) or with the mouth, the nose, and the eyes.

Outside of the workplace, they can also be contracted via intravenous drug abuse, unprotected sex, via the placenta from a pregnant person to the fetus, or through blood transfusions.

Alright, now the most common bloodborne pathogens are human immunodeficiency virus (or HIV), viral hepatitis, malaria, syphilis, and Ebola.

Of the common bloodborne diseases, the most important ones to know are HIV and viral hepatitis because they pose the biggest threat for U.S. healthcare workers.

HIV is a virus that targets the cells of the immune system. Over time, the immune system begins to fail and this increases the risk of infections and tumors that a healthy immune system would otherwise be able to fend off. These complications are referred to as AIDS (or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).

Now, the acute HIV infection typically presents with flu-like symptoms such as fever, chills, muscle aches, and fatigue. In response, the immune system mounts a counterattack.

It starts to control the infection, and the person enters the chronic phase, or latent phase, which can last between 2 and 10 years.

At this point, the individual could still transmit the virus, but they are usually asymptomatic and can still fight off other infections fairly well.

However, the virus is steadily chipping away at the immune system as they multiply in the body. As more immune cells are lost, the immune system becomes severely compromised, and the condition has progressed from HIV infection to AIDS.

At this point, the person can experience things like persistent fever, fatigue, weight loss, and diarrhea. Infections will also become more frequent, and they’ll often get recurrent bacterial pneumonia or fungal infections. Finally, certain malignancies like cervical cancer are more likely to develop.

Moving on to viral hepatitis, which is an inflammation of the liver caused by one of the hepatitis viruses. There are five of these: A, B, C, D, and E. Of these, B, C, and D are considered bloodborne pathogens. Hepatitis D virus is unique in that it can only infect people that also have hepatitis B virus.

Viral hepatitis also has an acute phase and a chronic phase. In the acute phase, the person will have classic symptoms like fever, fatigue, nausea, and jaundice, which is the yellowing of the skin and the white of the eyes.

The liver might be enlarged, and this is called hepatomegaly. In the chronic phase, the person might be asymptomatic, but the liver is still being damaged.