Pathogenesis and role of nuclear medicine

The means by which replication of viruses takes place is explained, as it helps in the understanding of how viruses spread in the blood and how antiretroviral drugs work. The most important viruses, from a health care workers point of view, are hepatitis B and C and human immunodefiency virus (HIV). Whether nuclear medicine has a role to play in the diagnosis of these viruses, and the oportunistic infections that go with them, is debatable. Several radiopharmaceuticals are extremely sensitive for infection and tumor imaging but lack specificity. Patients' treatment is often not based on the outcome of the investigation but rather on preset protocols. AIDS patients are put on prophylactic antibiotic treatment as protection against infections such as toxoplasmosis and pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and there is a poor prognosis for AIDS patients with tumors

Protective and preventative measures

Health care workers who come in contact with blood and other body fluids in their working environment risk being exposed to bloodborne diseases such as human immunodefiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B and C. An anti-hepatitis B vaccine is available as well as hepatitis B immunoglobulin but no vaccine is available against hepatitis C and HIV. The best way to protect against exposure to blood and body fluids is to use "Universal Precautions" which encourage safe working methods. If an exposure does take place it should be regarded as an urgent medical problem and every facility should have a management policy to deal with this problem. The source patient's rights must also be protected. The preventative and protective measures available to health care workers as well as practical suggestions to carry out in the event of an exposure are discussed