Sometimes, the mouth can be contaminated with blood, particularly if there has been traumatic injury. ShutterstockĪs hepatitis C and HIV are blood-borne viruses, saliva alone cannot transmit them. The chance of front-line workers contracting HIV at work are almost zero. By 2022, Australia’s aiming for virtual elimination. The vast majority are on effective treatment which reduces transmission to zero. Around 0.1% of the Australian population is living with HIV. Rates of HIV infection in the community are dropping anyway. There does not appear to be any recorded case of an Australian police officer being infected with HIV in the course of their duties. When exposure does occur, it tends to be less serious. Police and corrections officers are far less likely to be exposed to a blood-borne virus than hospital workers. Outside of sexual transmission, HIV is transmitted through blood. In those same four years, not a single person was ordered to be tested. In contrast, in Victoria the chief health officer has the power to order a test or issue a public health order to enforce it if necessary. This resulted in 377 testing orders in the first four years.
The proposed NSW model is closest to the one Western Australia introduced in 2014, where police can order testing. Swearing in public is still illegal, but you probably won’t be charged if you’re whiteįive states have legislation that allows mandatory testing, according to a report by the National Association of People Living with HIV. Anyone who refuses a mandatory testing order will be committing an offence, with a maximum 12 months prison term or an A$11,000 fine, or both. They have 48 hours to appeal to the NSW chief health officer. If the person does not comply, they can be forced to do so. The mandatory testing order would come from senior officers within the worker’s own agency. UNSW Sydney provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.Įxamples might be if a person bites a police officer restraining them during an arrest or protest someone biting or scratching a youth justice or corrections officer or a person behaving unpredictably, exposing ambulance officers to their body fluids. University of Melbourne provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation AU. Nicholas Medland's research receives institutional funding from the Australian Government National Health and Medical Research Council and from Gilead Sciences.Įlizabeth Crock is affiliated with ANZANAC Victorian Branch (Australian and New Zealand Association of Nurses in AIDS Care), an Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Special Interest Group.
Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences., University of Melbourne HIV Clinical Nurse Consultant with Bolton Clarke, Board Member Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine (ASHM), The University of Melbourne (President-elect and vice-president Australasian Society of HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine), UNSW Sydney Sexual health physician, epidemiologist, researcher.
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