Risk of Bloodborne Microbes in Healthcare Workers

Bloodborne microbes remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality globally, especially in countries with scarce resources. Health care workers (HCWs) face a significant risk of occupational blood exposures (OBEs) and the spread of blood-borne microbes such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and Treponema pallidum (T. pallidum), which are responsible for an important percentage of infectious diseases worldwide. This review offers insights into the epidemiology and disease burden of bloodborne microbes, in addition to the potential risk of bloodborne microbes among HCWs and infection control. Data from electronic databases: PubMed, Google Scholar, and public health reports from the World Health Organization and United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS were used. In the health care environments, bloodborne pathogen transmission occurs largely by percutaneous or mucosal exposure of personnel to the blood or bodily fluids of infected patients. Exposure to bloodborne microbes affect the HCWs safety, there are millions HCWs with bloodborne infection worldwide. Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) have increased in prevalence due to the growing complexity of medical care and the intricacy of patient conditions. High rates of HAIs caused by bloodborne microbes represent a high burden of disease that leads to lengthy hospital admissions. Monitoring of HAIs constitutes a fundamental component of infection prevention and control programs. Detection of bloodborne microbes and postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) may assist to prevent infections.