The client with AIDS requires specific precautions. Which of the following best matches recommended precautions?

• A. Gloves, mask, and gown
• B. Standard precautions
• C. Droplet precautions
• D. Airborne precautions

Answer: (D)

Protecting health workers and others centers on using standard precautions with every patient. HIV, the virus behind AIDS, is transmitted through blood and certain body fluids, not through the air or through ordinary respiratory droplets. Because of that, airborne and droplet precautions aren’t required for routine HIV care. Standard precautions include careful hand hygiene, gloves for contact with blood or body fluids, and the use of gowns, masks, or eye protection when splashes or fluid exposure are possible, along with safe needle practices and proper cleaning and disinfection. In this context, following standard precautions provides appropriate protection without imposing measures meant for infections that spread through airborne or droplet routes. Airborne precautions are reserved for diseases that spread via small aerosol particles (like tuberculosis or measles), which isn’t how HIV is transmitted.