• Introduction
• AIDS and HIV:
  The Basics
• Transmission
  of HIV
• AIDS and HIV in Schools
• Protecting School Employees Against HIV Infection
• Rights of HIV-Infected Staff and Students
• UFT Services for HIV-Infected Staff
• AIDS Education in the Schools
• Obtaining More Information About AIDS

AIDS and HIV in Schools

Can I catch HIV from students or staff at my school who have the virus?

For most school employees there is NO risk of catching HIV from typical, day-to-day contact in a school environment. Repeat: NO RISK.

The virus is not spread through handshakes or hugs, or by sharing food, eating utensils, office equipment, telephones or rest rooms.

It is not transmitted by sneezes or coughs. Nor is it spread by contact with sweat, tears, urine or feces.

What about children who bite? Can they transmit HIV?

Children who bite will not transmit HIV. Although the virus sometimes can be detected in the saliva of an infected person, experts say the concentration is too weak to cause infection in others.

If daily school activities can’t spread HIV, is there any risk of catching the
virus from infected students or staff members?

Some school employees, such as school nurses and health aides, have job duties that involve routine exposure to blood. Just like health care personnel working in hospitals, these school employees face some risk of contracting the HIV virus if they sustain direct contact with infected blood. Examples of direct contact include being pierced with a needle or other sharp object contaminated with the virus or being splashed with infected blood on the eyes, nose, mouth or an open wound.

Other school employees with some risk of exposure to HIV may include any physical education teachers and school safety officers who frequently deal with injured students and custodial staff who are responsible for cleaning up blood spills.

What about classroom teachers and others whose jobs
don’t include special risk factors?

For these school personnel there is NO danger of contracting HIV while following the normal school routine. Even assisting students to care for ordinary cuts and scrapes does not pose a hazard.

There may be a small risk, however, if an employee is called upon to provide first aid in a situation that involves significant blood loss. This could include helping a student care for a major nose bleed.

How can school staff protect themselves against HIV in situations
where they may be exposed to blood?

The risk of contracting HIV is low, even with a blood spill, but it is better to be safe than sorry.

Every school employee should follow the safety procedures called “universal precautions,” which are described in the next section of the pamphlet. By preventing direct contact with the blood of others, universal precautions can prevent exposure not only to HIV, but also to hepatitis B which is far more contagious.

Tell me more about hepatitis B and the risk of exposure in a school setting.

Like HIV, the hepatitis B virus can be transmitted by direct contact with infected blood in the workplace, but is spread much more frequently through sexual intercourse or injecting drug use.

Hepatitis B can cause serious liver damage and even death in a small number of cases.

Hepatitis B is far more contagious than HIV because the hepatitis virus is found in higher 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 fragile HIV virus, which cannot survive for long outside the body, the hepatitis B virus can remain alive for a week or more on surfaces contaminated with dried blood. This creates additional opportunities for contagion.

What does this mean for health care workers and any school employees who may be exposed to blood at work?

Before the introduction of the hepatitis B vaccine, 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. By contrast—as noted earlier—only 42 cases of workplace transmission of HIV have been documented since the start of the AIDS epidemic.

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 hepatitis B in schools, see Viral Hepatitis: Straight Talk from the UFT.

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