- 1. Eliminate the source of infection. If possible, keep macaque colonies free of B virus.
- 2. Know the safe methods for handling monkeys and sharps to prevent injuries.
- 3. Cleanse wounds thoroughly and without delay.
- 4. Collect specimens from both worker and monkey after an injury and ship promptly to the NIH B Virus Resource Laboratory.
- 5. Report all injuries and know the symptoms of B virus infection. The evidence from previous human infections suggests that patients survive if they are treated early before advanced symptoms develop.
- 6. Following an injury, an antiviral drug should not be started unless the patient develops symptoms or shows positive lab results.* Viral cultures are reported as negative after seven days.
*One reason for this rule is the low risk of infection--only about 40 infections have been documented among the thousands and thousands of injuries sustained by macaque handlers annually. The other reason is that antiviral therapy can mask an infection, so that the doctor will not know how to interpret the antibody titers. Was the patient really infected or not? If acyclovir or ganciclovir is started, when should it be discontinued?
