title: Occupational risk of acquiring HIV infection through needlestick injuries.
abstract: Accidental needlestick exposures occur frequently among hospital personnel and account for most incidents of percutaneous injuries. Even if universal precautions were followed routinely, it is unlikely that multiple needlestick exposures could be avoided completely. Despite the likelihood of persons incurring multiple needlestick exposures, relatively little information is available on the cumulative risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection for health care workers attending unrecognized HIV-infected patients. A quantitative method to estimate annual cumulative risk from multiple exposures is offered, and the risk of HIV infection is estimated by use of a probability model for health care workers in both hospital and emergency department settings.
authors.affiliation: Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, CA 90005, USA.
authors.forename: F K
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Ford
authors.forename: S Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Kerndt
mesh_terms: D015658:HIV Infections / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D017758:Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional; D015233:Models, Statistical; D016602:Needlestick Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D012306:Risk; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology