Policy needed on carriers

Press, 29 July 1987, Page 13

Policy needed on carriers

PA Wellington Employers should make policies on staff with A.I.D.S. or hepatitis B, as part of company policy, said the Lower Hutt district health officer, Dr Hilda Firth. A worker with either disease would pose no risk to workmates through casual contact, and employers should keep themselves informed on the way hepatitis B and A.I.D.S. were spread, she said. The “Evening Post” asked Dr Firth about the risk the diseases posed, after a telephone call from a Hutt woman who said that her son faced losing his apprenticeship when his employer found he was a hepatitis B

carrier. The woman, who did not want to be named, said that her son had worked in an electrician’s' firm since February and was due to sit papers for his full apprenticeship. When he casually mentioned that at the age of 15 he had found he was a hepatitis B carrier, other staff told the employer that he should not be working. This was because through things like sharing cups, he could infect others, the mother said. Dr Firth said that such a fear was unnecessary, and the same applied regarding carriers of the A.I.D.S. virus. In both cases, infection could only take place if

the virus entered the blood stream. Sexual intercourse and exchange of blood or blood products were the main routes of spread. In both cases, although saliva could carry the infection, it had to enter the blood stream and in large enough amounts to cause infection, she said. Probably the only risk in an office, factory or workshop would be to staff who performed first aid who might risk infection from blood. This posed a risk only if the first-aider had an open wound or cut which infected blood entered, she said. A simple precaution would be to include disposable plastic gloves in the first aid kit.