Adding to your collection of eye contact questions

Hey

I got something that looked like blood into my eye yesterday. It was dark red in colour but not very wet. I wiped it out with a napkin - it was only a spec or two but no more and there was no residue. It hit the inside of my eye, just between the corner and the beginning of my pupil. Unfortunately I felt this stuff hit my eye when I was passing by two  West African men gesticulating to one another across from me as I went down an elevator and they were going up (I apologise for this assumption, but where I live it's statistically more likely that someone from that continent has an infection like HIV).

Perhaps my imagination is running wild, but if one of them had a cut on their finger and it flicked up into my eye, wouldn't this be a risk? I've googled around (Dr. Google isn't the best thing, I know) and read that the cases of this type of transmission are very rare; i think the only instance i found was a lab setting in Germany where a large droplet of blood hit the eye of something not wearing goggles.

Does the amount that hit the eye impact transmission, given that these was probably not much more than  a spec or two?

Regards,

Johnny

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to the Forum and thanks both for your careful description and yourself analysis  (seriously, it does help to know where you are on this).  Summary assessment first- this was not a risky event and not something to worry about.  Now the details.

First, if these unknown men were from a nation where HIV is relatively more common, the odds are still that they did not have infection.  Even in the nations where HIV is most common the rate of infection is less than 1 in five and in most places far less.

Second, this sort of exposure almost never leads to HIV transmission.  As you point out, the reports of such transmission are vanishingly rare and when they occur the exposures are typically rather intense, not just a droplet flying through the air.  Further, as you'll see if you search our site, the eye is very efficient at cleaning itself- the blink reflex is involuntary and one of the fastest reflexes in the body and does a great job of clearing away any foreign substances that accidentally land in the eye.  This acts minimize the effect of any such exposure, should it happen.

Third, as you indicate, this is one place where size does matter. The more blood/secretions, the more viruses present (in the unlikely circumstance that the person was infected), thus given that if there was exposure at all (which I doubt) the risk of transmission becomes lower still.

My recommendation- don't worry.  I see no reason for concern or for testing.  If you feel you must test for your own peace of mind, please do so at least 6 weeks after this event so that your test results will be meaningful.

I hope these comments are helpful. EWH

[johnnyquid]

*I meant escalator, not elevator. Sorry.