Last night I did the practical session of a first aid course which mostly consisted of resuscitation practice, disease paranoia and realistic bandaging techniques.
The first rule of disease paranoia is: you do not touch blood.
The second rule of disease paranoia is: you do not touch blood!
Apparently you need to be far more careful of hepatitis than HIV, since it exists in a much higher concentration in blood and stays active for 24 hours in dried blood. And by "much higher concentration", I'm talking about one hundred thousand times more. I'm this close to locking myself in my room wearing tissue boxes on my feet and a surgical mask.
Realistic bandaging mostly means wrap it up and go to the doctor. If the wrapping would further irritate the injury, put another bandage or two (rolled up) beside or on top and wrap over that. Tourniquets, different bandage types, splints etc. are all out. No scrubbing wounds, either. If it doesn't fall out when squirted with sterile salty water, then it needs to be handled by trained medical personnel under sterile conditions. Most infected wounds come from fibres and other foreign material introduced by attempting to clean them.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Forgive me, I'm practicing my knowledge to help me remember it.
PPS - Plus if you haven't heard it before, it's good for you too.
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