Diseases

Diseases and OPIM (Other Potentially Infectious Materials)

All body fluids and human tissue have the potential for harboring disease. Because of this, cleaning the site of a traumatic incident requires the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), which includes a zippered, full body suit with hood and booties, eye protection and a respirator.

Protect yourself, protect your loved ones and protect the environment by having all potentially bio-hazardous materials properly disposed of through Critical Care Bio-Recovery.

Bloodborne Pathogens:

Hepatitis A

  • Transmitted through feces contamination of water, food and drinks
  • Can lead to chronic liver problems
  • Symptoms more common in adults
  • Almost 1% fatality rate

Hepatitis B

  • Transmitted via blood or blood derived body fluids
  • 73,000 new cases annually
  • Approximately 1.25 million carriers in the United States
  • Laboratories have found live Hep B viruses in blood pools 30 days old

Hepatitis C

  • Transmitted via blood or blood derived body fluids
  • 2.7 million Americans are infected with Hep C-80% of those show no signs or symptoms
  • Over 90 varieties of Hep C viruses are known
  • The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has determined the Hep C virus can survive at least 7 days in dried blood

HIV/AIDS

  • Transmitted through body fluids
  • No cure for either HIV or AIDS
  • The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has found the HIV virus can survive at least 7 days in a blood pool
  • Infection can occur when infected blood has contact with a break in skin or mucous membranes such as the eyes, nose and mouth

Airborne Pathogens:

Tuberculosis

  • Transmitted from person to person through the air
  • If a TB infected person coughs or sneezes, they release the disease into the air where it can be inhaled by healthy individuals, who then may become infected

Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS)

  • Transmitted through the urine, droppings, or saliva of infected rodents. Humans CAN contract the disease when they breathe in the aerosolized virus.

Leptospirosis

  • Eating food or drinking water contaminated with urine from infected animals
  • Contact through the skin or mucous membranes (such as inside the nose) with water or soil that is contaminated with the urine from infected animal

Lymphocytic Chorio-meningitis (LCM)

  • Breathing in dust that is contaminated with rodent urine or droppings
  • Direct contact with rodents or their urine and droppings
  • Bite wounds, although this does not happen frequently

Direct Contact:

Plague

  • Bite of an infected flea
  • Direct contact with infected animal

Rat-Bite Fever

  • Eating or drinking food or water that is contaminated by rat feces
  • Bite or scratch wound from an infected rodent, or contact with a dead rodent

Salmonellosis

  • Eating or drinking food or water that is contaminated by rat feces

Tularemia

  • Handling infected animal carcasses
  • Being bitten by an infected tick, deer fly or other insect
  • Eating or drinking contaminated food or water
  • Breathing in the bacteria,F. tularensis
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