“Blood Born Pathogen Risk--2”
I am resubmitting this question, as I accidentally deleted the response before reading it, and am unable to retrieve it.
Our mail carrier cut her hand while delivering our mail, and there was visible blood on the cardboard and plastic packages. My husband carried the packages in (he has abrasions and cuts on his hands from working), and did not wash his hand immediately after, as we were unaware of the the amount of contamination until later. Does he pose a risk of contracting HIV this way, or am I overreacting?
Our mail carrier cut her hand while delivering our mail, and there was visible blood on the cardboard and plastic packages. My husband carried the packages in (he has abrasions and cuts on his hands from working), and did not wash his hand immediately after, as we were unaware of the the amount of contamination until later. Does he pose a risk of contracting HIV this way, or am I overreacting?
Male | 46 years old
Medications: none
Conditions: none
2 Answers
It's possible that he could contract a blood-borne infection (such as HIV or hepatitis) if a cut or abrasion came into direct contact with blood from a person with such an infection. It may help to contact the mail carrier to find out if they have any known infection to determine the risk, and report to your physician or healthcare provider for any necessary testing and follow up.
The risks of transmitting most blood-borne infectious pathogens are very, very low, and absent personal contact between individuals is remote. How easily "blood" can be transmitted from an inanimate object such as mail is also very unlikely. Certainly, for HIV transmission the risk is vanishingly small. Transmissibility depends on the nature of the pathogen and how long it was "on the mail". For HIV specifically, if it was dried blood contaminated with HIV, the infectivity of the virus would not last very long (minutes to several hours) On the other hand, hepatitis B is VERY virulent and can last in the dried state on environmental surfaces for months. If you have not been vaccinated against hepatitis B, you are not protected.
