Points
To Ponder:
Many of
us have been in situations that really scared us, but did
you know that blood-borne pathogens, as well as body fluids,
carry viruses, can make you DEATHLY ILL and could KILL you?
Now, if that’s not a scary enough thought, here are some
more interesting statistics

Did You Know:
That AIDS/HIV can be
transmitted through ways other than sexual contact? That
AIDS/HIV can be transmitted by sharing needles, and through
open cuts in the skin?
The CDC also states that HIV is unable to reproduce outside
its living host (UNLIKE BACTERIA OR FUNGI, WHICH MAY
REPRODUCE UNDER OTHER CONDITIONS).
The reason for bringing
this is up is to encourage you to always try to be safe.
Although HIV has been transmitted between family members in
a household setting, this type of transmission is rare. You
should, however, always take safety precautions to ensure
your safety. Some safety guidelines are as follows:
Gloves should be worn during contact with blood or other
body fluids.
Cuts, sores, or breaks in the skin in both the caregiver and
the patient should always be bandaged.
Hands and other parts of the body should be washed
immediately after contact with blood or other body fluids.
SURFACES soiled with blood or other body fluids should be
DISINFECTED appropriately.
Dispose of any needles and other sharp instruments in a
PUNCTURE PROOF container.
Some HEPATITIS VIRUSES can
be as deadly as the AIDS/HIV virus. Let’s take HAV
(Hepatitis-A) for example. Even though it is primarily a
food virus, it can lead to other illnesses. HAV accounts
for approximately 20,000 to 35,000 cases of food-borne
illness each year in the United States.

Here are some facts
about HBV (Hepatitis-B):
Worldwide, 1 out of 3
people have been infected with the Hepatitis-B virus.
HBV is one of the most common and serious diseases in the
world!
According to the Hepatitis B Foundation, there are
approximately 400 million chronic carriers of HBV worldwide.
Over 75% of these carriers reside in the Asia-Pacific
region.
One million people die
each year from acute and chronic liver disease caused by
HBV infection, making it the ninth leading cause of death
worldwide.
Nearly 300,000 people become infected each year with HBV. Of
that number, one out of ten becomes a chronic carrier. HBV
is 100 times more infectious than the AIDS virus. In the
United States approximately 2 healthcare workers are
infected each day with HBV. There is a vaccine for HBV, but
for the 400 million who are already carriers of HBV the
vaccine is of no use.
HBV can be transmitted
through any infected person’s mucus membranes upon contact
with infected body fluids such as semen, vaginal secretions,
saliva, and blood. The highest concentration of the virus,
however, is found in the blood.
Because of the
availability of a vaccine, HBV is one of the most
preventable STDs (Sexually Transmitted Disease). Most
people don’t think of HBV as an STD.
And then there is HCV (Hepatitis C virus) which is a viral
infection of the liver.
HCV is transmitted by exposure to blood from an infected
individual.
The greatest risk of transmitting HCV from person to person
is during a period of one or more weeks before onset of
symptoms. However, since the majority of people infected
with HCV do not have symptoms, the period of
communicability is indeterminate.
Humans remain contagious as long as they carry the virus.

What about co-infection
between HIV and HCV?
About one-quarter of
HIV-infected persons in the United States are also infected
with HCV.
HCV is transmitted primarily by passages through the skin
(cuts, sores, any kind of break in the skin), as well as
by exposure to contaminated blood.
Another deadly disease is
TB (Tuberculosis). TB is a disease that is spread from
person to person through the air.
An estimated 10 to 15 million Americans are infected with
the TB bacteria, with the potential to develop active TB
disease in the future.
Approximately 2 billion people (one third of the world
population) are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis,
the cause of TB.
TB can also cause liver damage.
We have performed
extensive research into diseases that can be spread when an
area has not been properly decontaminated. We believe that
we can make a major difference by helping to stop the
spread of such diseases.