Blood born diseases

what sort of training are police officers being givin about blood born diseases and contraction of : during aprehension of such crinals. DO OUR POLICEMAN HAVE ADEQUATE TRAINING? What areas should one be concerned about> pls advise

Four hours on Bloodborne Pathogens to include HIV/ AIDS, and Hep every year. That is what I get. On top of that, there is the annual CPR recert that includes a block on safet measure and use of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). Between that and the occasional shift training/ update we get about 8-10 hours total per year on this topic.

When you come into contact with some of the people you do in law enforcement it will not take you long to "glove up" out of habit. Wash your hands every chance you get, especially before you eat. POST requires you to be trained a certain number of hours.

At least you boys in the US get some training. I've been an LEO in England for 8 years and had none! Had all the jabs I can get though and follow all the advice given in the previous post.
Regards Lea

I myself am employed in protective service. A couple of the things we use are surgical gloves and also kevlar gloves. Another rule of thumb is to always assume everyone you come in contact with is infected. Some of the guys even wear non perscription glasses. Alot of people you are restraining will spit in your eyes. But their is no full proof system, t'is the chance we take.

This deserves a reply. I'm not sure what exactly the treatment is, but if you have reason to believe that a person who has spit blood on you is HIV+, get to an ER and get the particular treatment withing 24hrs. All data indicates that when done so, the rate of transmission is 0, and I mean 0.

Exposure to saliva will not transmit HIV.
Risk of getting HIV from incidental contact or exposure is minimal.
Hepatitis is a different story.

Usually treatment for suspected exposure to HIV is to start you on the AIDS cocktail, AZT-efavirenz, lamivudine and zidovudine for a six month period. This is followed by retesting for HIV.

All Police and EMTs should get innoculated for Hepatitis C.

Getting blood spit in your face isn't exactly incidental exposure though. I believe that was the original post here. But in that case, what you've said is correct, and like I said, when they say that actual infection rate is zero, it is zero.