Blood borne pathogens can be transmitted in many different ways. Sometimes when the pathogen is present on objects like needles, razors, scalpel or broken glass, and these objects cause a puncture or wound, the pathogen can make its way into the body. Pathogens are also transmitted when a person has an open wound, cut or abrasion, and this comes in contact with either contaminated blood or body fluids. Even sexual contact can cause blood borne pathogen to be transmitted.

However, blood borne pathogens are not transmitted through sneezing, coughing or using the toilet, shower or water fountain. You cannot get a blood borne pathogen by touching an infected person.

When it comes to who discovered blood borne pathogens, it is very difficult to name a single person. There are many different types of blood borne pathogens and each of these types has been discovered by a different scientist.

The discovery of blood borne pathogen for HIV is shrouded in controversy as two researchers claimed to have discovered. These researchers are Luc Montagnier and Robert Gallo. Both claimed that they discovered the pathogen in 1983 and 1984 respectively. In was found that the samples that led Gallo to discover the pathogen had actually originated in Montagnier's laboratory. So, in 1994, the US government decided to give major share of the credit of discovering HIV pathogen to Montagnier.

Hepatitis B virus is another type of blood borne pathogen. The early records indicate that the credit for discovering that an epidemic of Hepatitis B in 1883 was made by Lurmoan.

It was in the mid-70s that Harvey J Alter, the then chief of the Infectious Disease Section at the Department of Transfusion Medicine of the National Institutes of Health, along with his research team was instrumental in discovering a type of hepatitis that occurred after blood transfusion and was not related to hepatitis A or hepatitis B. For a long time, the virus could not be identified. It was only in 1987 that a team of three researchers from Chiron Corporation worked along with a doctor from the CDC to identify the virus, which we now know Hepatitis C virus.

These are just a few examples of discovery of blood borne pathogens. Similarly, many other pathogens have been discovered and are still being discovered.

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