Bodily Fluid Cleanup in Tower Homes, Kansas City, MO

At a home, the owner or the family usually pays. At a rental or a business, the landlord, property owner or employer often gets the cleanup done. In a rental, the lease and local law decide, and a landlord, an attorney or a tenant rights group can say.

Blood and other body fluids that may carry germs are treated as biohazards. Some, such as blood, can carry bloodborne pathogens like hepatitis B and HIV. Cleanup crews handle all of them with the same protection, because the source of a fluid is not always known.

Usually not when the fluid has soaked through. Mattresses, couches and padded furniture absorb liquid deep inside, and surface cleaning does not reach it. Soaked items are typically removed and disposed of as waste.

Wash the skin with soap and water right away, and rinse the eyes or mouth with clean water if fluid splashed there. Then talk with a doctor or the local health department about next steps. This is general information, not medical advice.

Put on disposable gloves and eye protection, lift the waste with disposable towels and bag it. Then clean the area and use an EPA-registered disinfectant by the label. Soaked porous materials usually have to be removed, so call a cleanup team when waste has spread.

Dried waste can still carry germs, and sweeping or scrubbing it can send particles into the air. That is why it is cleaned carefully with protection and a disinfectant instead of dry sweeping or vacuuming.