Challenges still to be met in reducing occupational exposures to bloodborne viruses

Challenges still to be met in reducing occupational exposures to bloodborne viruses: There were 541 reports of needle stick injuries that exposed healthcare workers to patients carrying bloodborne viruses in 2011, twice as many as a decade ago (2002) when 271 exposures were reported. The figures are published today in the Health Protection Agency’s fourth Eye of the Needle report, which includes occupational exposures to bloodborne viruses in healthcare workers reported by hospitals through the HPA’s enhanced surveillance system. These reports are only a fraction of needle stick injuries that would have occurred.