HIV - Blood in Eye & Glass Cut Risk

[puppiov]

I was on vacation three weeks ago and we left in the morning and came back at approx. 3:00pm. When we returned the maid was outside of the suite, she said that she was finished cleaning our room.  Within 5 minutes of entering the suite, I touched the door knob to enter the bathroom and then laid down to take a nap. I felt something in my eye that flew in from the sheet and I began probing my eye with my finger to get it out. At approximately 9:00pm, I was sitting in the living room area and pulled up a stool. As I was pushing the stool back under the table, I cut my finger on a piece of glass. It was bleeding pretty badly.  I thought that maybe the maid had broken a wine glass and tried to clean it up and did not get it all. I know that this glass was not on the stool before we left.  I did not think anything of it, I washed it with warm water and put a bandaid on it. I awoke the next morning to brush my teeth at the vanity mirror and I saw smeared blood finger prints over the mirror. I know that these fingerprints were not there before. Immediately, I began worrying on whether the maid cut herself on the same glass that I cut myself on and left blood of doorknob/glass. I know that she used the stool to stand on to reach the vanity mirror to clean it. I do not know the maid's HIV status. About 8 days after this, I had noticed that my eyes felt like there was something in it and felt swollen but not red. Both sides of my jaw and neck swelled up and were in pain. My ears felt full.  No other symptoms. Doc said I had swollen glands. So my questions are: If the maid cut herself on the small piece of glass before 3:00pm and then I cut myself on the same piece of glass at 9:00pm, am I at risk for HIV?  I know that the maid cut herself because of the fingerprints that I saw over the vanity. If the maid touched the bathroom door knob with her bleeding hand and I touched the door knob 5 minutes later, then touched my eye - Am I at risk for HIV?

[Bridget A. Hewitt, RN]

Hi and thanks for using the forum.

The likelihood of transmission of HIV in this scenario would be very low- I would not be too worried about this.  If your throat symptoms persist, you may want to go back to your doctor- it is possible that you would need a different or second antibiotic if this does not go away.   If you are very worried, you could ask your doctor for an HIV test.  This could help put your mind at ease.  Good luck.

Bridget

[puppiov]

The incidents I described above happened on June 25.   Doc gave me azithromycin more than a week ago and I finished this up a couple of days ago. Glands on both sides of my jaws have gone down a lot, but still a little swollen/pain. Before I could barely sleep on either side due to the pain.   My neck felt really full at first and was confirmed to be swollen by doc, but has gone down since taking antibiotics. What's Weird part about it I had no sore throat, fever, or any other symptom with the exception gland swelling. Doc looked in my throat and said there was just a little drainage. In the past couple of days I have developed a slight stiff neck and slight burning in throat area. Not sure why my throat area and tongue burning slightly. do  you  have any ideas as it relates to the above risks I described? also, it has been a couple of days since I took the full course of antibiotics, should I give it more time to work?

thanks so much