How Bloodborne Pathogens are Spread

This lesson will examine how an infectious disease or bloodborne infection can cause illness. However, let’s start with a few definitions.

Bloodborne Pathogen: A germ that can infect humans and cause sickness is known as a bloodborne pathogen. It is found in human blood.

A disease that enters the body by a variety of biological pathways and is also brought on by microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, etc. is referred to as an infectious disease.

Not all infectious diseases and bloodborne pathogens cause severe symptoms; some can cause just minor symptoms.

The Infection Chain

Any illness needs a number of factors to propagate. The term “chain of infection” refers to this. And as you may remember from the last lecture, the prerequisites are as follows:

• • 1) The environment needs to include a sufficient amount of pathogens, or organisms that cause disease.
  • 2) The pathogen need a reservoir or supply, like blood, in order to survive and even grow.
  • 3) A transmission method from source to host is required.
  • 4) The pathogen needs to be able to enter the host through an opening.

Rather of being immune to that infection, the host must be vulnerable to it.

Bloodborne Pathogen Sources

Potential bloodborne infections are mostly found in blood and certain body fluids, such as vaginal secretions and semen. Bloodborne infections, however, can also be present in other bodily fluids, particularly if they are obviously tainted with blood. Among these sources are:

1) Brain’s cerebrospinal fluid
2) The synovial fluid found in joints
3) Lung pleural effluent
4) Uterine amniotic fluid in and around
5) Surrounding the heart in pericardial fluid
6) Stomach fluid called peritoneum