Blood transfusion anxiety

[Anxiousmom2011]

Hi doctors,
I have gotten so much insight from this site, thank you.
My situation is 10/24 I delivered my child via c section and had to have 2 units of blood transfused after. I was told how safe the US blood supply is and was ok with it until about 2 weeks after I started to get nervous as I breast feed my son & started to panic "what if" I had contracted hiv from it. I know the chances are very low. I tested last week at exactly 5 weeks elisa was Negative thank god. I am definitely going to test again to relieve more anxiety. ( I had a mild sore throat exactly 2 weeks after the transfusion on & off for 2 weeks- no other symptoms)
1. Am I crazy to even worry?
2. When would you test again or would you say I am ok? Would it have shown by now since I got a large amount of blood not small say through sex or another way.
3.My older son (2 yrs) tasted literally one drop of expressed breastmilk & 2 weeks later had a high fever and sore throat (negative fro strep) is there ANY possible way if I did contract it he could from just one drop of milk?
4. I am willing to take whatever tests whenever I considered going to take a PCR/DNA test & Elisa through a lab this week but read about false positives. I just want to put this all behind me & pray to god its all negative.

Thank you so very much any info at all you have is greatly appreciated. My children are my number one concern.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

The information was provided to reasssure you and for something that happens 1 in 1.5 million times to worry you is an inappropriate response, particularly after your negative test result.  Have you ever been struck by lightening?  Do you spend a lot of time worrying about it.  As for your specific questions:

1.  Yes, it is silly to worry.
2.  Further testing is a waste of time.
3.  This is a baseless "what if" question but there is virtually no risk to a two year old, if you had been infected.
4.  See 2 above.  You can test as much as you wish with whatever tests you wish- you will find that you did not get HIV from your receipt of transfusions.  EWH

[Anxiousmom2011]

Thanks for your response I appreciate it. I hadn't heard about the recent case that scares me even more. Is there any way you could address my specific questions? Mainly regarding my older son and additional testing I would appreciate more than you know

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to our Forum.  I can understand, particularly with a new baby, that you would be concerned about the possibility of getting an infection from a transfusion.  transfusions however are not given lightly however so I suspect you needed it, and the U.S. blood supply is the safest in the world.  Blood for transfusion is routinely screened using the best possible tests for multiple possible infections including HIV and hepatitis,  A few months ago the first HIV infection transmitted through blood transfusion in over 8 years was reported by CDC, making the risk of HIV from transfusion about 1 in 1.5 million transfusions.  Put another way, you are about 10 times more likely to get hit by lightening than to get HIV from a blood transfusion.

You are not at meaningful risk.  Your test which would have detected over 90% of recent HIV infections confirms this. Please do not worry. EWH