ABSTRACT
This chapter emphasizes the problems and difficulties that managers and employees need to tackle in the control of transmission of human immuno deficiency virus (HIV) infection and to reduce the stigma of AIDS, should an employee wish to disclose his or her condition. Once a person has HIV it can take up to six months before the antibody is produced. The presence of the antibody can be tested for and it is the detection of the antibody which reveals that the person has HIV. HIV has been located in semen, tears, blood, breast milk, cervical secretions, cerebrospinal fluid and saliva. Transmission of HIV infection has occurred mainly among healthcare and laboratory employees. Although the number of incidences of occupational transmission of HIV is currently unknown, reporting has improved since the mid-1980s.
