Electronic control device prongs: a growing cause of bloodborne pathogen exposure?
Bradbury, Susan L. Reznek, Martin A Sullivan, Susan Adamo, Philip Mack, Deborah Ann Ellison, Richard T. III
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Abstract
Electronic control devices (ECDs) are now being used by many law enforcement agencies as nonlethal means to subdue individuals. The devices fire 2 small dart-like probes into a target individual that attach through the skin with a fishhook-like prong and remain attached to the weapon to deliver an electronic shock to disrupt voluntary muscle control. For the first time in our reported sharps exposure history, 2 separate BBP exposures involving ECD probes were reported at our medical center in the months of April and May of 2015. The first involved a staff member in our medical center's emergency department (ED) and the second concerned a law enforcement officer.
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Bradbury SL, Reznek M, Sullivan S, Adamo P, Mack D, Ellison RT 3rd. Electronic control device prongs: a growing cause of bloodborne pathogen exposure? Am J Infect Control. 2015 Dec 1;43(12):1373-4. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2015.07.015. PubMed PMID: 26654240.