A blood-borne disease is one that can be spread through contamination by blood

Blood

Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....

.

The most common examples are HIV

HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

, hepatitis B, hepatitis C

Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C is an infectious disease primarily affecting the liver, caused by the hepatitis C virus . The infection is often asymptomatic, but chronic infection can lead to scarring of the liver and ultimately to cirrhosis, which is generally apparent after many years...

 and viral hemorrhagic fever

Viral hemorrhagic fever

The viral hemorrhagic fevers are a diverse group of animal and human illnesses that are caused by four distinct families of RNA viruses: the families Arenaviridae, Filoviridae, Bunyaviridae, and Flaviviridae. All types of VHF are characterized by fever and bleeding disorders and all can progress...

s.

Diseases that are not usually transmitted directly by blood contact, but rather by insect or other vector, are more usefully classified as vector-borne disease, even though the causative agent can be found in blood. Vector-borne diseases include West Nile virus

West Nile virus

West Nile virus is a virus of the family Flaviviridae. Part of the Japanese encephalitis antigenic complex of viruses, it is found in both tropical and temperate regions. It mainly infects birds, but is known to infect humans, horses, dogs, cats, bats, chipmunks, skunks, squirrels, domestic...

 and malaria

Malaria

Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...

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Many blood-borne diseases can also be transmitted by other means, including high-risk sexual behavior or intravenous drug use

Drug injection

In substance dependence and recreational drug use, drug injection is a method of introducing a drug into the body with a hollow needle and a syringe which is pierced through the skin into the body...

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Since it is difficult to determine what pathogens any given blood contains, and some blood-borne diseases are lethal, standard medical practice regards all blood (and any body fluid) as potentially infectious. Blood and Body Fluid precautions are a type of infection control

Infection control

Infection control is the discipline concerned with preventing nosocomial or healthcare-associated infection, a practical sub-discipline of epidemiology. It is an essential, though often under-recognized and under-supported, part of the infrastructure of health care...

 practice that seeks to minimize this sort of disease transmission.

Blood poses the greatest threat to health in a laboratory or clinical setting due to needlestick injuries (e.g., lack of proper needle

Hypodermic needle

A hypodermic needle is a hollow needle commonly used with a syringe to inject substances into the body or extract fluids from it...

 disposal techniques and/or safety syringes

Safety syringe

Safety Syringe legislation has been introduced in many nations as needlestick injuries and re-use prevention become the focus of governments and safety bodies.Traditional glass syringes can be re-used once disinfected...

).

Blood for blood transfusion

Blood transfusion

Blood transfusion is the process of receiving blood products into one's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used in a variety of medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood...

 is screened for many blood-borne diseases. Additionally, a technique that uses a combination of riboflavin and UV light

Pathogen reduction using riboflavin and UV light

Pathogen reduction using riboflavin and UV light is a method by which infectious pathogens in blood for transfusion are inactivated by adding riboflavin and irradiating with UV light. This method reduces the infectious levels of disease-causing agents that may be found in donated blood components,...

 to inhibit the replication of these pathogens by altering their nucleic acids can be used to treat blood components prior to their transfusion, and can reduce the risk of disease transmission.
Technology using the synthetic psoralen, amotosalen HCl, and UVA light (320-400 nm) has been implemented in European blood centers for the treatment of platelet and plasma components to prevent transmission of blood-borne diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, and protozoa
Needle exchanges are an attempt to reduce the spread of blood-borne diseases in intravenous drug users.

External links

• Selected EPA-registered Disinfectants - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• OSHA Bloodborne Pathogen Standard (BBPS)
• Bloodborne Pathogens and Needlestick Prevention, from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
  Occupational Safety and Health Administration
  The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Labor. It was created by Congress of the United States under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, signed by President Richard M. Nixon, on December 29, 1970...
  
  (OSHA)
• OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Workplace Safety Standards and Regulations
• Antimicrobials Information - National Pesticide Information Center
• Professor Andrew Speilman, Entomologist, Harvard School of Hygiene and Public Health Freeview Malaria video by the Vega Science Trust.
• Rob Hutchinson, Entomolgoist, Mosquitoes London School of Hygiene and Tropical Diseases. Freeview video by the Vega Science Trust.
• http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/bp.html
• NIOSH Bloodborne Infectious Diseases Topic Page