Contracting HIV

[missacs1984]

to cut a long story short, my sister has concerns that there is a small chance she could have contracted something such as HIV at work.

She had knocked the top layer of her skin off on her finger during the morning and it haad bled. She had a plaster on it until lunchtime when she removed it to try and let it dry out as it was going wrinkly under the plaster. when she got back to work after lunch, she saw that someone has left the first aid box out where she was due to work, so she picked it up and put it back. it was then she realised that there was a small amount of blood on the work top, that would have been under the handle before she picked it up. so she put a rubber glove on and cleaned it. it was then she realised she did not have anything covering the injury on her finger (which was not bleeding at the time) and is now worried the blood on the board could have touched her finger (she does not know if it did or not) there was also some blood on the first aid box, which she did not see until after she had put it back. She feels stupid for not putting the glove on before she picked up the box, escpecially when she found out that the blood belonged to a bloke who was isn't what you'd call a saint (he words!), but she doesn't know if he has anything or not. Ive tried to reassure her that she will probabily be ok, but should go the doctors if she is worried. but what do you guys think, she says she doesn't want to go to the doctors incase she is wasting peoples time. She tried to talk to her supieriors but they didn't take it seriously, and just kind of laughed (not very proffesional!!) does anyone know if she was at risk?

[another-view]

To be panicking over such a miniscule chance of this is laughable. Does she not go out of the house in case an aeroplane drops on her head too?

She is quite right not to waste a doctors time over this.

[missacs1984]

thanks (!)

but on a serious note, if she actually did get the blood on her skin, especially around the cut, does this not pose a threat?

a less sarcastic answer this time please. lol

[another-view]

I don't see how it could. Unfortunately, people's ill informed views of the AIDS virus result in these sort of questions.

People used to believe that they could catch it through kissing, sitting on the same toilet and even shaking hands.

[sqad617]

If the "bloke" is HIV negative.....she has no chance of contracting HIV.

If the "bloke" is HIV + and his blood had recently been spilled then she would have a chance of contracting HIV.

If the "blokes" is HIV +and it had been there for a while and was dry, the chance of becoming infective would be negligable.

[Panic Button]

She won't be able to relax until she is tested, but she probably has more chance of winning the lottery than catching HIV from this.

[sqad617]

panic button...???????/

[joko]

and, Another-view, it is sites like these that people come to to become inofrmed and learn about things such as HIV...yet you see fit to shoot them down and ridicule them for not being oh so clever as you!

why do you just expect people to just know all the facts?

isnt it better that the uninformed come here an ask ''questions such as this'' rather than just carrying on in ignorance...?

just remember people of all ages come here to learn... dont be a fool and expect everyone to be of the same level of intelligence and learning...there would be no need for sites like this is they were

your tone and sneery supercilious attitude is superfluous to answerbank

[another-view]

Surely, in this day and age people know about what can and cannot give them HIV??

What's next? Should I look both ways before crossing the street? I find this basic lack of common sense disturbing.

[joko]

in answer...i would suggest you phone nhs direct, they will have a better, more educated knowlegde on whether there is a high risk...because there is always some risk, no matter how small... an i agree in this case it seems a small risk

but... im sure many people in the world regret listening to those around them spouting gems such as ''dont be so silly'', ''dont waste the doctors time'', ''theres no risk''...etc etc...as they lay there in pain or dying...

i woudl also suggest she just ask the guy in question if he is aware of having anything

and also report him or whoever for leaving something like that just lying around ...he shoulf have cleared it away ...

[joko]

the posters sister might be 17-18..and just not learnt everything there is to know yet...

also what exacly hasnt she learnt ??...seems to me that she is well aware that infected blood + open wound = potential risk of disease being transmitted...fact...

there are other diseases that can be passed here...not just HIV

plus...from what has been described, infection is HIGHLY UNLIKELY ...but not IMPOSSIBLE.... she COULD have been infected... and for to to advise against gettin checked is kind of irresponsible since you do not know the answer yourself

[joko]

do we really want to get to the point where young peiople are afraid to post ANY question they want for fear of sneery responses??

[joko]

i would prefer people asked "stupid" questions, than none at all

[no-knowledge]

if she is worried about this incident she will always be at risk from

crossing the road
eating a kebab
using the wrong Kinetic Lifting Technique
walking passed a dog in the street
sneezing ( her brains might blow out)
spilling a hot cup of coffee

[no-knowledge]

past

[pauliwauli2]

Okay, something VERY similar happened to me not long ago. In fact in my case I was probably at even less risk.
She probably has nothing to worry about - the chances in terms of statistics that whoever's blood it was was HIV positive is about 1%. And if the person was positive and their blood entered the bloodstream of your sister, it has an extremely low chance of developing into HIV - I believe we were taught less than 1%, but could be wrong.

To sum up, she wouldn't be wasting time if she got a test but it probably isn't necessary, UNLESS she's working in healthcare. If that's the case she might be obliged to get a blood test, as I was.

Hope that helps!

[missacs1984]

hi, thanks for your help guys. well some of the responses. my sister has just informed me that the guy left the day after so she cannot ask him anything. typical! all she knows is that he sleeps around and dabbles with drugs (although she doesn not know if he does injectable ones or not, just cocaine and pills mainly she thinks. shes just come to me now, as it happened around 3 weeks ago and she's started getting a sore throat and flu like symptoms which she has read can be a sign of early HIV, so this is whats got her a bit worried. she did inform her superior about the incident and the guy was just told to not leave the first aid box on a food preparation work top and that was it.