“Could I have contracted the HIV virus from this patient?”
I'm a nurse and while working at the hospital I got in direct contact with the blood of a patient who I later found out was HIV positive. I don't remember having an active bleeding wound on my fingers, but I might have small cuts from cooking or torn cuticles. After the contact, I washed my hands with running water. Could I have contracted the HIV virus from this patient?
2 Answers
InfectiousDiseaseSpecialistInfectiousDiseaseSpecialist
I am sorry you have had this exposure.
It is possible, but not likely, unless the exposure was to a large amount of blood in a patient with a lot of circulating virus. That said, please arrange for an evaluation by employee health , ASAP. I presume the initial contact was documented, but if not please also report that now.
I hope you have negative testing, but if not, treatment now is standard.
Cynthia Point, MD
It is possible, but not likely, unless the exposure was to a large amount of blood in a patient with a lot of circulating virus. That said, please arrange for an evaluation by employee health , ASAP. I presume the initial contact was documented, but if not please also report that now.
I hope you have negative testing, but if not, treatment now is standard.
Cynthia Point, MD
Contracting HIV in this manner is possible, but if you do not see any wounds on your hands (and if that is the only part of your body that came into contact with the infected blood), then the risk may be small. There is a medical regimen for people to take immediately after exposure that helps to prevent getting HIV. Otherwise, if you feel well for the next month, the likelihood of getting HIV should be low. If you start to have fevers, a sore throat, bad headaches, and/or fatigue, you should get tested. If you get tested before a month has passed, you may be testing yourself too soon.