Surgimedics.com - Research Articles for Surgical Smoke Evacuation

Electrosurgical smoke has been recognized as a definite nuisance in the OR for at least a decade and serveral studies imply that viable human bloodborne pathogens can be transferred via smoke plume particulate. These particulates include not only HIV and human papilloma virus, but the probably more pervasive hepatitis and increasingly antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis.