Healthcare workers face the biggest risk from accidental needle sticks from needles contaminated from a range of serious, and deadly, blood borne pathogens. Healthcare workers and professionals face this hazard every day, even though they observe the highest standards of caution and receive the best of training.
Each year there are 600,000 to 1 million injuries related to accidental needle sticks in the United States alone. These injuries lead to tens of thousands of cases of infectious diseases, including hepatitis HIV exposures. Healthcare workers face the prospect of years of physical and psychological suffering and even death as a result of this common, but preventable problem. The yearly direct cost of healthcare supplies and services required to treat the victims of accidental needle sticks is estimated to exceed $3 Billion.
