Infections caused by diagnostic and therapeutic practices in hospitals (medical factors) are called medical-derived infections. Any procedure that damages the integrity of the skin and mucous membranes during diagnostic and therapeutic activities in hospitals is theoretically likely to transmit HIV infection. The higher the rate of HIV infection, the greater the risk of medical-acquired infection. The greater the risk of medically acquired infections in areas with poor health care conditions.
Medical factors that cause the spread of HIV are insidious and extremely harmful. Since the discovery of AIDS, medical transmission of HIV has occurred in every country in the world, and China is no exception. Blood transfusion, blood products and unsafe blood collection and donation are the main medical factors leading to the spread of HIV infection and epidemic. In addition, the following medical factors also play a super important role in the transmission of HIV infection.
(a) Medical injection and needling Medical injection includes intramuscular injection, subcutaneous injection and intravenous injection. Medical injection acts are all directly break through the skin mucous membrane barrier into the body, if the needle and syringe are not strictly sterilized by HIV contamination, it can easily lead to HIV. The risk of blood transmission of HIV through skin injury caused by occupational exposure of medical personnel is 0.2%~0.5%, and the risk of HIV transmission through skin mucous membrane exposure is 0.1%. In the United States, a nurse was injecting a patient when she accidentally fell and injected 2 ml of the patient’s blood into herself and became infected with HIV.
As the number of people infected with HIV continues to increase, the risk of HIV transmission through medical injections will increase every day. Unsafe injecting is a major problem in developing countries because of the prevalence of syringe sterilization problems in these countries and the high prevalence of blood-borne infections that can be transmitted by injection in the population.
Immunization of children in developing countries exceeds 550 million visits per year, and a large proportion of children in rural areas, where unsafe injections are above 30% due to the general inadequacy of syringes and sloppy sterilization at the vaccination site, and the tolerant attitude of the authorities towards this situation. In a population with an HIV infection rate of 1%, the HIV cross-infection rate is about 3.5 per 10,000 if syringes and needles are not sterilized after 4 repeated uses.
In 1990, Romania reported 1168 cases of HIV infection, 94% of which were children, 57.4% of which were highly suspected to be transmitted by unsafe injection. In China, the use of disposable syringes and infusion sets is not yet popular in rural areas, remote areas, some small and medium-sized cities and some small and medium-sized medical units and individual clinics in large and medium-sized cities. The risk of HIV transmission through medical injections is also increasing with the increasing number of HIV-infected patients in China, so we should be highly alert. Experts suggest that unnecessary medical injections should be minimized, and that strictly sterilized disposable syringes and infusion sets should be used if necessary for treatment.
In addition, because acupuncture treatment can easily cause bleeding and make the needle contaminated, so acupuncture can also lead to the spread of AIDS. It is best to use one needle per person and not to reuse needles for acupuncture treatment.
(B) Dental treatment and various surgeries The United States has reported five cases of patients infected with HIV due to dental treatment. Extractions, fillings, scaling and other procedures often cause bleeding and damage to the oral mucosa, and there is a risk of HIV infection through blood if the treatment equipment is not properly sterilized. Nowadays, individual dental clinics are all over the streets and alleys in China. If these clinics are not managed properly, dental treatment may become an important risk factor for HIV infection.
Various surgical procedures bleed a lot and cause a wide range of contamination, which can easily cause the spread of HIV infection. On the other hand, the trauma caused by the surgery to the patient’s skin, mucous membranes, tissues and organs helps the invasion of HIV, so it is also easy to cause the patient to be infected with HIV. According to British media reports, more than 500 patients who had undergone lockjaw surgery at a British hospital were informed that they were at risk of being unfortunately infected with HIV due to a major mistake at the hospital.