germs

[anxious09]

hello, i have one question for a friend.

she went along with her kids to get her blood taken for tests.

anyhow abt 1 hour later her after she returned her older son accidentally touched her "wound" from the blood draw.

she panicked and said that he may have transmitted her some germs from where he touched (public transport etc.. ) and she put iodine solution !!! i laughed and said she was over the top with this but she has OCD so maybe that's why she overrecacted. question is who is right ? me or her ? just to reassure her.

please reply as she is making herself ill with worry.
tks

[anxious09]

tks everyone. i passed her all yr messages and i think she calmed down.

tks again

[mkh9]

I wouldn't worry about it. I don't think there is a right or wrong here. If she felt more comfortable wiping if off well, that is ok. But, if blood is flowing out chances are it would not  "pick up" Bacteria or other "germs"  from the child putting the finger on the "wound". It is not the best practise to put a finger over the area. In reality your blood cells fight off transient infections all the time which are much higher in number than probably would be on a finger (though I don't know where that finger was before LOL). When you go to the dentist and have your teeth cleaned  you get a transient bacteremia and your white blood cells go attack any foreign "germs" .
hope this helps,
mkh9

[caregiver222]

The risk is insignificant. Human blood does not usually contain any organism (with certain exceptions, such as hepatitis)  that would cause infection. Then the skin provides a barrier that would ordinary prevent infection.

[dette1234]

Hi,   If the child did not have an open sore where she touched her tell her not to worry.  

[geminigirl1963]

The risk of her getting any germs in a simple blood stick area are very small - unless her immune system is compromised.  It is a good idea to clean the area, however, if she was concerned, but using iodine probably was not necessary - simple soap and water would have done the trick.

[melipops]

Hi if the wound was still bleeding there is more chance of transmitting germs. It is an extremely small risk as most germs don't last all the long outside of the body. If it wasn't bleeding anymore I wouldn't worry too much. She did the right thing with cleaning it. Hope this helps cheers