WHAT ARE THE DEFINITIONS OF BLOOD, BLOODBORNE PATHOGENS AND “OTHER POTENTIALLY INFECTIOUS MATERIALS (OPIM)”?
• “Blood” means human blood, human blood components and products made from human blood. The term “human blood components” includes plasma, platelets, and serosanguinous fluids (e.g., exudates from wounds). Also included are medications derived from blood, such as immune globulins, albumin, and factors 8 and 9. • “Bloodborne Pathogens” means pathogenic microorganisms that are present in human blood and can cause disease in humans. While Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) are specifically identified in the standard, the term includes any pathogenic microorganism that is present in human blood or OPIM and can infect and cause disease in persons who are exposed to blood containing the pathogen. Pathogenic microorganisms can also cause diseases such as hepatitis C, malaria, syphilis, asbestosis, brucellosis, leptospirosis, arboviral infections, relapsing fever, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (caused by HTLV-I), HTLV-I associated myelopa
