Volume 7 • 2020 • Issue 4

Guideline on the Prevention of Transmission of BloodborneViruses In 2019, the Public Health Agency of Canada released a new guideline intended to provide a national framework to develop policies and procedures to prevent transmission of HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C from infected health care workers to patients. This guideline replaces the previous one from 1998 and reflects major advances in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of these three bloodborne viruses. D r. Blaine Cleghorn, professor and assistant dean of clinics at Dalhousie University, was a member of a multi-disciplinary task group that has worked since 2011 to update the guideline. “There was a real need to replace the 1998 consensus document with a current evidence-based guideline,” he says. The task group conducted six systematic reviews and three environmental scans to determine the risk of transmission of HIV, Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C from infected health care workers to patients and to determine the infectivity of each virus as it related to the viral load of the source. It found that transmission rates from past exposure incidents vary among the three bloodborne viruses. Rates were lowest for HIV (0–3.0%) and highest for Hepatitis B (0.06–11.1%). Hepatitis C transmission rates ranged in between (0.04–3.7%). The new guideline includes recommendations that are designed to improve patient safety and to allow infected health care workers to continue to practise safely. The new guideline applies to all health care workers—including dentists, hygienists, and dental assistants—and students in health care programs. Dr. Blaine Cleghorn, professor and assistant dean of clinics at Dalhousie University. The "Guideline on the Prevention of Transmission of Bloodborne Viruses from Infected Healthcare Workers in Healthcare Settings" document can be accessed at canada.ca . S upporting Y our P ractice 21 Issue 4 | 2020 |