Educate me

I know a child who is HIV positive.  Prior to my finding out, she had several nicks, scratches, and sores (as all playful children do) that I would assist him in covering.  She would clean them up, I'd put the band aid on.  I was always careful to not touch the wounds and would immediately wash my hands.  I realize now of course that gloves are imperative, but whats done is done.  

I don't really understand the blood to open cut transmission.  Does there need to be an adequate amount of blood to constitute "transmission". Would she have to directly bleed into a cut of mine?  At the most, I had maybe been exposed to microscopic amounts of blood as I don't recall ever seeing blood on my hands and I haven't had any major cuts on my hands- only normal paper cuts.  I had a 3 week negative test and want to know if there is any reason to put myself through that gain.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Your exposure are analogous to what we do on hospitals all the time.  There is no doubt that in the course of patient care we are regularly exposed to dried, microscopic amounts of blood from infected patients yet there has never been transmission in this way.  Rather the non-sexual transmission of HIV occurs when the blood of an infected person is directly introduced below the skin of an non-infectious person and can create infection.  As for sexual exposures, not all exposures lead to infection.

In your situation. care to not get visible blood on yourself and hand washing make your risk very close to zero.  To get infected through a cut, the blood needs to be directly introduced into a real, open cut (not a scrape, healing cut, sore cuticle, etc).

As far as testing is concerned, you do not need further testing, no because the tests are conclusive at this time but because your risk of infection is so very low.  If you want to have the comfort of being sure that your test relative to your exposures is truly negative, wait till six or even better yet, eight weeks for follow-up testing.  At that time, your test would be negative.  As I said, I would not bother to get tested but this is your call.  EWH