Viral Hepatitis

Jan 17, 2002 11:01 AM

HEPATITIS B AND AIDS

Q: YOU SAID THAT BOTH HEPATITIS B AND HIV, THE VIRUS THAT CAUSES AIDS, ARE BLOODBORNE PATHOGENS. IF I'M EXPOSED TO BLOOD AT WORK, COULD I GET HIV?

A: Hepatitis B and HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) are totally separate viruses. But both can be transmitted by direct contact with blood. The risk of getting HIV from exposure to blood at school, however, is much smaller than the risk of getting hepatitis B.

Q: WHY IS THERE LESS RISK OF GETTING HIV FROM CONTACT WITH BLOOD?

A: HIV is far less contagious than the hepatitis B virus because the human immunodeficiency virus is found in lower concentrations in the blood of infected people. A person exposed to blood contaminated with the hepatitis B virus has a 30 percent chance of getting sick. This is 100 times greater than the chance of contracting HIV from a comparable exposure.

Unlike the hepatitis B virus which can remain alive for a week or more on surfaces contaminated with dried blood, the fragile HIV virus cannot survive for long outside the body. This further reduces the opportunities for contagion.

Q: WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR HEALTH CARE WORKERS AND ANY SCHOOL EMPLOYEES THAT MAY BE EXPOSED TO BLOOD AT WORK?

A: As noted earlier, the United States Centers for Disease Control estimated that 6,000 to 8,000 health care workers a year contracted hepatitis B through workplace exposure before the hepatitis B vaccine was introduced. By contrast only 42 cases of workplace transmission of HIV have been documented since the start of the AIDS epidemic. All of these 42 HIV cases occurred in health care facilities; none occurred in a school.

This means health care workers--and any school employees whose duties involve direct exposure to blood--should be far more concerned about contracting hepatitis B than HIV. For more information about HIV/AIDS in schools see AIDS/HIV: Straight Talk from the UFT, another booklet in this series.