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3. Treatment of a Bloodborne Pathogen Exposure
a. If an exposure incident occurs:
1) The employee shall contact his supervisor immediately and complete an
Exposure Questionnaire, per § 32.1-45.2 of the Code of Virginia.
2) The supervisor will contact the Infectious Disease Exposure Consultant to
determine if the incident is an actual exposure or simple contact. If it is an actual
exposure, the employee will be instructed to report to the designated facility.
a) "Simple contact" - a potentially infectious material has made contact with
the employee’s clothing, equipment, and/or intact skin, but no “actual
exposure” has occurred.
b) “Actual exposure” or exposure incident - there has been direct contact
between potentially infectious blood or body fluids and an employee’s
blood via cuts, scrapes or bites on the employee, or through areas such as
the employee’s eyes, mouth or other mucous membrane. The Center for
Disease Control (CDC) recommends treatment with special antiviral
medication within one to two hours of contact.
c) In "simple contact" incidents, if the employee still requests treatment, he
will be allowed to proceed to the designated facility.
4. Testing
Any exposed employee who has had a bloodborne pathogen exposure incident must be tested
immediately for a baseline. This will establish that at the time of the exposure incident, there
was no evidence of a communicable disease in their blood. Since the window phase of testing
is different for each communicable disease, follow-up testing will vary.
a. Low risk exposures are followed for 6 months after initial treatment.
1) 3 days after exposure
2) 6 weeks after exposure
3) 3 months after exposure
4) 6 months after exposure
b. High risk exposures are followed for 6 months after initial treatment:
1) 3 days after exposure
2) 2 weeks after exposure
3) 6 weeks after exposure
4) 3 months after exposure
5) 6 months after exposure
c. The person whose body fluids came into contact with an employee is considered the
source patient. It is important to test the source for specific bloodborne/airborne
diseases. The source can be required to be tested in accordance with §32.1-45.1 of
the Code of Virginia and the results may be disclosed to the employee. §18.2-62 of
the Code of Virginia provides that a person may be ordered to submit to HIV and
hepatitis B or C virus testing when charged with any crime involving sexual assault,
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