Objective: To estimate the risk of HIV or hepatitis B infection after pricking accidents in the ambulant care and treatment of drug addicts.
Design: Risk estimation.
Setting: Aid station for drug addicts in Nijmegen.
Method: Inventorization of the pricking accidents at the above-named aid station and calculation of the risk of infection.
Results: During 30 years on the job, a worker in addict care outside Amsterdam runs a 0.007% risk of job-related HIV infection and a 4.5% risk of hepatitis B infection. The corresponding figures for Amsterdam are 0.05% and 7%, respectively. The job-related risk for workers in general hospitals in Amsterdam is 0.0012-0.015% for a job-related HIV infection and 1-5% for a job-related hepatitis B infection.
Conclusion: The risk of workers in an aid station for drug addicts of contracting a job-related HIV or hepatitis B infection is relatively high compared with workers in health care in general. An active infection prevention policy for workers in addict care is to be recommended.