Occupational Exposure to Needle Stick Injuries among Health Care Personnel in a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Cross Sectional Study

Health care personnel are at increased risk of contracting blood borne pathogens due to their occupational exposure to blood and body fluids [1-4]. More than twenty diseases can get transmitted through needle stick injuries including Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV [5]. Occupational exposure to blood can result from percutaneous injury (needle stick or other sharps injury), mucocutaneous injury (splash of blood or other body fluids into the eyes, nose or mouth), or contact with non-intact skin [6-10]. Hence not only doctors and nurses even laboratory technicians, housekeeping personnel and hospital waste handlers are at risk of harboring the blood borne infections [2,11]. According to the World Health Organization, out of 35 million health workers worldwide, about 3 million receive percutaneous exposures to blood borne pathogens each year; two million of those to HBV, 0.9 million to HCV and 170, 000 to HIV. These injuries may result in 16, 000 HCV, 66, 000 HBV and 1000 HIV infections [6]. More than 90% of these infections occur in developing countries. The measures which can be taken to reduce these occupationally related blood borne infections to health care personnel includes eliminating unnecessary injections, adhering touniversal precautions, immunization against Hepatitis B, provision of personal protective equipment and the management of exposures [7,11-14].