Medical procedures and other blood-borne exposure

HIV transmission during medical procedures at hospitals is extremely rare. However, if blood products are not screened and infection control procedures are not followed, transmission can take place. The risk of infection following a needlestick injury is low.

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Medical procedures and other blood-borne exposure: latest news

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Medical procedures and other blood-borne exposure in your own words

  • Needlestick injury

    I am an HIV-positive doctor. I was infected courtesy of a lapse in concentration and a needlestick injury at work. The prescribed dual post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) was taken for one...

    From: In your own words

Medical procedures and other blood-borne exposure news from aidsmap

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Medical procedures and other blood-borne exposure news selected from other sources

  • Southmead Hospital cancelled HIV patient's surgery over 'deep clean'

    A hospital has apologised to a woman with HIV after cancelling her surgery twice when it wrongly believed it would then have to deep clean the theatre.

    05 July 2019 | BBC News

  • The gay men breaking blood donation rules

    "It galls me every time I hear an advert on the radio asking for people to give blood, when there's a huge section of society that is just denied that for no good reason," says David - not his real name. He is a sexually active gay man who donates blood to the NHS several times a year.

    18 June 2019 | BBC News

  • Tattoo parlours pose infection risk, warn health experts

    Shops offering tattoos and piercings pose an infection risk, and laws on who works in them should be tightened, say public health experts.

    17 June 2019 | BBC News

  • HIV epidemic in children in Pakistan raises concern

    Experts suspect there is no single source but that the outbreak is the result of years of widespread practice of poor infection control. She said that, in many communities, patients often turn to small, under-regulated clinics which can provide quick and affordable medical care. Health workers there might reuse needles when giving injections and administering intravenous therapy. There are also unregulated blood banks, which could easily spread the virus.

    12 June 2019 | The Lancet (requires free registration)

  • More than half of HIV patients in Pakistan's Sindh province remain without treatment

    More than half of the 751 people diagnosed with HIV in Pakistan's Sindh province remain without treatment, according to the WHO.

    11 June 2019 | Times of India

  • WHO supports response to HIV outbreak in Sindh, Pakistan

    An international team of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) has arrived in Pakistan to support the response to an outbreak of HIV in Larkana in Sindh province, Pakistan, at the request of the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination. The outbreak was first reported on 25 April 2019, and so far more than 600 HIV cases have been identified. The majority are among children and young people: more than half those affected are children under the age of 5.

    03 June 2019 | World Health Organization

  • Medical Investigation: How Did 494 Children In One Pakistani City Get HIV?

    Dr. Minhaj Kidwai believes that the outbreak is a result of "contaminated syringes, syringes that are reused for injections in children, unscreened blood transfusions and reuse of dextrose and saline drips."

    22 May 2019 | NPR

  • Hundreds of Pakistanis infected with HIV after doctor used contaminated dirty syringes

    Pakistan was long considered a low prevalence country for HIV, but the disease is expanding at an alarming rate. The country currently has the second fastest growing HIV rates across Asia, according to the UN.

    16 May 2019 | South China Morning Post

  • Why the infected blood enquiry matters

    Our infection through medical treatment for haemophilia caused the media to obsess about our ‘innocence’ in getting HIV and, even if they did not say it out loud, everyone could guess who the ‘guilty’ were.

    10 May 2019 | National AIDS Trust

  • Infected blood scandal: key files overlooked by Department of Health

    Exclusive: documents missed in supposedly thorough search appear vital to public inquiry

    07 May 2019 | The Guardian
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Community Consensus Statement on Access to HIV Treatment and its Use for Prevention

Together, we can make it happen

We can end HIV soon if people have equal access to HIV drugs as treatment and as PrEP, and have free choice over whether to take them.

Launched today, the Community Consensus Statement is a basic set of principles aimed at making sure that happens.

The Community Consensus Statement is a joint initiative of AVAC, EATG, MSMGF, GNP+, HIV i-Base, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, ITPC and NAM/aidsmap
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