A Fire on the AIDS Ward

It has been shown that potential exposure to patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) should be a concern for emergency services personnel, based on the seroprevalence of HIV among severely injured or critically ill patients.1 Moreover, emergency services personnel have been surveyed about their knowledge and attitudes toward the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and hepatitis B, revealing substantial fears about contracting AIDS but an underestimate of the occupational risk of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.2 However, to this author's knowledge, there are no published accounts of the evacuation of HIV-infected patients during an actual hospital fire and its infection control consequences. This article was written to provide infection control practitioners with information on how to reduce the potential for chaos and unwarranted concern resulting from such an emergency.