Subject: HEALTH CARE 
Date: Published: 11/25/92 (51 lines)
Source: Wall Street Journal. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc.

    HEALTH CARE
    ----
    By Helene Cooper

    Medical Workers Get
    New AIDS Protections
    CONCERNS among health-care workers about AIDS give rise to a
 small industry.
    The Centers for Disease Control reported earlier this month that
 32 health-care workers, mostly lab technicians and nurses, have been
 infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.  Twenty-seven were
 infected when pricked by a needle or cut by a scalpel that had been
 used on an HIV-infected patient.
    Such reports are prompting many companies to produce medical
 equipment to protect doctors and nurses.  Davis & Geck, a
 medical-supplies unit of American Cyanamid in Wayne, N. J., in July
 started selling a tapered-tip surgical needle, which reduces the
 risk of surgeons and nurses accidentally sticking themselves.  The
 needles are used to close incisions during surgery.
    De Puy, an orthopedic supplier in Warsaw, Ind., offers surgical
 gloves that resist penetration by needles.  Made from Lycra and other
 fibers, the gloves provide more protection than traditional latex
 gloves, says Dick Tarr, De Puy's vice president of research and
 development.
    And Becton Dickinson, a Franklin Lakes, N. J., supplier of medical
 products, offers a "safety-lock surgical blade system."  The
 instrument allows doctors and nurses to discard used surgical blades
 without touching them, by turning a handle.
    F. J. Montz, an oncologist at the University of California at Los
 Angeles, says he expects to see more products to improve safety in
 hospitals.  "We're very interested in living out our natural lives,"
 he says.  "Anything that can benefit us, we'll use."  He and Thomas C. 
 Sullivan, a surgeon in San Diego, both say they are pleased with the
 tapered needles; the new gloves, Dr. Montz adds, do reduce the
 chance of getting stuck.
    The new products carry higher prices than those they replace.
 Davis & Geck's new tapered surgical needles cost 15% more than
 conventional surgical needles.  De Puy's gloves, at $25 a pair, cost
 about $10 more than traditional gloves, Mr. Tarr says.  And Becton
 Dickinson's new surgical blades cost 10% more than traditional
 blades.  All three companies say the products are selling well,
 though they won't provide figures.

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