Anesthesiologists as well as patients are at risk for acquiring blood-borne infections such as hepatitis and AIDS. We surveyed 2,530 anesthesiologists, a 10% random sample of the members of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, with a response rate of 57.1%, to determine the incidence of accidental needlestick exposure among anesthesia personnel and whether anesthesiologists are adhering to infection control guidelines to protect themselves and their patients from exposure to infectious diseases. Eighty-eight percent of respondents reported at least 1 accidental needlestick in the past 10 years; 21% received a needlestick from a high-risk patient and 4.5% a needlestick from a known HIV-positive patients. Residents reported significantly more accidental needlesticks from known HIV-positive patients (8.5%). Mucous membrane, open cut, eye, or other significant exposure to HIV-contaminated blood or body fluids was sustained by 8.34% of respondents in the past 10 years. Sixty percent of respondents reported they almost never reuse common syringes now compared with a 40.8% non-reuse rate (P < 0.001) in a similar survey on infection control practices conducted in 1990. Sixty-three percent reported they almost never reuse a vasopressor syringe compared with the 1990 non-reuse rate of 52.5% (P < 0.001). In the current survey, 39% of anesthesiologists reported reusing syringes from one patient to another and 36% reported reusing the same vasopressor syringes for different patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)