water, air and dental team themselves), of greatest concern are in the mouth of patients, it is not possible to accurately detect which patients may indeed be harboring these pathogens. Therefore infection control procedures must be applied during the care of all patients using the concept of Universal precautions. Based on an understanding of asymptomatic carriers of disease agents. Persons who have disease agents but have no recognizable symptoms of the disease, they are the most important source for spread of disease agents, dental team will not be aware of the potentially infectious nature of patients because of no recognizable symptoms. Stages of an infectious disease: There are four stages: 1. Incubation.
3. Acute and
2. Prodromal.
4. Convalescent.
Incubation stage – period from the initial entrance of the infectious agents into the body to the time when the first symptoms of the disease appear, range from a few days to years. Depending on the disease-producing potential of the microorganisms the number of microorganisms, resistance of the body. -
For hepatitis-B is usually several weeks.
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For the rare “slow virus” infections, it may be 50 or 60 years.
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Person infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) may be free of recognizable symptoms for 10 years or longer after the virus initially enter the body.
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