Hi Doctor,
Something happened today that has me pretty upset, and I'm
hoping you can shed some light on the situation. At work today, I
noticed that I had a little splinter
or something in my forearm, so I
started to try and dig it out, which made the area bleed a little bit.
It wasn't working, so I decided I needed something a bit more precise
than my nails. I grabbed a little pin that had been sitting in its
bin, untouched for about 10 minutes or more (like a thumbtack, but
used at work to attach anti-theft sensors to clothing), visually
checked it for any blood or anything (I didn't see anything), and
cleaned the metal pin part with an alcohol-based hand
sanitizer,
rubbing the sanitizer on the tip to make sure it was clean. I then set
it down before proceeding further for either a few seconds or maybe up
to a few minutes, I don't remember how long, and this is the part that
bothers me. In the time in between my cleaning it and my subsequent
digging out of the splinter
wound. I think I had put it under an
elevated keyboard at a cash register (where it would be difficult to
touch), and I believe it was in the same position when I grabbed it
again. I didn't see anyone go near it, but I wasn't really watching,
and my manager (of unknown status) may have come by and encountered
it, though I don't really recall anyone coming near. I'm just so
uncertain; I can't remember for the life of me if I left it out and
someone pricked himself on it in between my cleaning it and using it.
If my manager had pricked himself with the pin just a minute
or less before I then took a splinter
, would I be at risk for HIV? Or would the amount of blood (if any)
left on a pin from a little accidental prick not be enough to transmit
HIV via my little bleeding cut? My splinter wound was not deep, but it
was widened and bleeding a bit from my having tried to get it out
previously. I have no evidence that this happened, but the absence of
evidence is not the evidence of absence. Was I at risk, and should I
be tested? I am sick to my stomach with anxiety.
hiv could not have survived on the pin for that long but next time be careful when using these sharp objects that come into contact with your blood,to avoid being part of the 1%.