d. Wear gowns or other protective garments if your clothing is likely to be soiled
with blood, secretions, or excretions. DO NOT wear soiled gowns outside the patient
care area or outside the laboratory areas.
e. Dispose of used needles, scalpels, and other sharp disposable objects in
puncture-resistant containers. DO NOT resheath, bend, break, or manipulate such
equipment in any way before disposal.
f. It is not necessary to wear masks and protective eye wear routinely. Wear a
mask when dealing with a coughing patient suspected of having M. tuberculosis or any
other infectious respiratory disease. Wear masks and protective eye wear when you
think there may be a splatter of saliva, respiratory secretions, amniotic fluid, blood, or
other body fluids. This is to protect you from infected materials.
g. Clean contaminated areas with a solution of 10 percent household bleach;
that is, 1 part bleach to 9 parts water.
h. Place contaminated wastes in containers for disposal according to local
standing operating procedure. Soiled linens and other laundry should be put in bag
clearly marked as contaminated and transported and laundered according to local
standing operating procedure.
i. Be sure to label blood products from infectious or possibly infectious patients
correctly.
j.
Take precautions when drawing blood or starting an IV.
NOTE:
The goal is to prevent health care workers from being exposed to potentially
infected body fluids and tissues.
3-14. CLOSING
a. To combat the epidemic of immune deficiency disease, general principles of
prevention, eradication, and treatment of infection should be used. First, educate the
public to prevention procedures so that there are fewer people exposed to the virus and,
thus, fewer people infected. Second, research must continue to ward developing a
vaccine composed of antigens which would elicit neutralizing antibody formation.
(Research on HIV and AIDS has advanced dramatically over the past five years.) Third,
ongoing research and development of drugs to treat the infection and restore the body's
immune system must be move forward.
MD0580
3-11