A needlestick injury is a percutaneous piercing wound typically set by a needle point, but possibly also by

other sharp instruments or objects. Commonly encountered by people handling needles in the medical setting,
such injuries are an occupational hazard in the medical community. Occupational needlestick injuries are
mainly focused on the healthcare environment, but law enforcement is at particularly high risk for incidental
needlesticks, though this population is commonly overlooked. These events are of concern because of the risk
to transmit blood-borne diseases through the passage of the hepatitis B virus (HBV), the hepatitis C virus
(HCV), and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS.

Needle-stick injuries are the second most commonly reported adverse incident within the NHS (17%),
and constitute a major hazard for the transmission of viral diseasehepatitis B and C and HIV. They are
also a potential source of transmission of prion diseases. The risk of transmission of hepatitis C (3%),
hepatitis B (30%), and HIV (0.3%) from the patient to the healthcare worker depends on the viral load of
the patient and the amount of blood that passes from one to the other. The prevalence of these viruses in
the hospital patient population and in healthcare workers is uncertain. We conducted a survey of exposure
to such injuries and of reporting practices in a district general hospital.

On the other hand, as needlesticks have been recognized as occupational hazards, their prevention has
become the subject of regulations in an effort to reduce and eliminate this preventable event.

A needlestick injury means the skin is accidentally punctured by a used needle. Blood-borne diseases that could be transmitted by
such an injury include human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV).

RISK
a needlestick injury may lead to significant stress and anxiety for the affected injured person. Taking care of a
needlestick injury is costly, estimated to be about $2,500 in the short term in the US.
Hepatitis B carries the greatest risk of transmission, with 37 to 62% of exposed workers eventually showing
seroconversion and 22 to 31% showing clinical Hepatitis B infection. The hepatitis C transmission rate has
been reported at 1.8%, but newer, larger surveys have shown only a 0.5% transmission rate.[15] The overall risk
of HIV infection after percutaneous exposure to HIV-infected material in the health care setting is 0.3%.
The specific risk of a single injury depends on a number of factors when the patients harbor the virus of
concern. Injuries with a hollow-bore needle, deep penetration, visible blood on the needle, a needle that was
located in a deep artery or vein, or with blood from terminally ill patients are known to increase the risk for HIV
infection.