"Surveillance for Occupationally Acquired HIV Infection--United States," 1981-1992

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1992. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

"Surveillance for Occupationally Acquired HIV Infection--United States," 1981-1992

Journal of the American Medical Association (12/16/92) Vol. 268, No. 23, P. 3294

Abstract: Public health surveillance of HIV infection in the health-care setting provides a basis for developing measures to minimize the risk for occupational transmission of HIV to health-care workers, writes the Centers for Disease Control. Two CDC-supported national surveillance systems have compiled data on occupational transmission of HIV: one initiated in 1981 for AIDS cases and one initiated in 1991 for HIV infections acquired through occupational exposures. Persons reported from these two systems have been classified with documented or possible occupationally acquired HIV infection. The CDC received reports of 32 health-care workers in the United States with documented occupationally acquired HIV infection and 69 with possible occupationally acquired HIV infection. Of those with documented occupationally acquired HIV infection, 27 (84 percent) had percutaneous exposure, four (13 percent) had mucocutaneous exposure, and one (3 percent) had both percutaneous and mucocutaneous exposures. A total of 30 were exposed to HIV-positive blood, one to concentrated infectious HIV, and one had a percutaneous exposure to an unspecified fluid from an unknown source patient. Among these workers, seven have developed AIDS. Among the 69 health-care workers classified with possible occupationally acquired HIV infection, four (6 percent) had occupational exposures to blood of patients known to be infected or to research laboratory specimens known to contain infectious HIV. Among the remaining 65, none reported exposure to blood or body fluids known to be HIV-positive. Of these 69 workers, 54 (78 percent) have developed AIDS.

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