CLINICAL LAB SCIENEC

CHAPTER 6: INTRODUCTION TO INFECTION CONTROL 137
A
B
C
FIGURE 6-7 (A–D) Work practice of washing hands before and after a procedure.
Source: Delmar/Cengage Learning.
D
known reservoir for HBV is the human body but, unlike HIV , HBV may persist
in dried body fluids for as long as 10 to 14 days. Careful cleaning and decontamination
of work surfaces and equipment would prevent most cases in which this
disease is contracted by contact in the workplace. Transmission of the disease
has occurred through a number of routes or portals of entry into the body.
A laboratory test for HBsAg (hepatitis B surface antigen) tests for the actual
viral particles and provides a direct test for the organism, unlike other tests in
which the antibody response to the virus is measured. Although HBV has been
found in infected persons in virtually all body fluids, from tissue secretions to
wound excretions, only blood and blood products , semen, and vaginal fluids, as
in HIV, have been found to be the source for transmitting the disease. As in HIV,
HBV can also be spread person-to-person from a person’s blood by finding its
way into open skin cuts or abrasions. Splashing of blood and other body fluids
into the eyes of another person may cause contraction of the disease, as will
sexual contact. Transmission from a mother to her baby is common when the
mother is HBsAg positive.
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