HIV exposure

[Paranoid23]

About a week and a half ago I was doing community service for a man who had AIDS. Myself and some friends were doing habitat for humanity type work, cleaning, building, painting etc. At one point the AIDS infected individual accidently cut his face. I noticed the blood and freaked out. I immediately left the house and put on gloves. I never came into physical contact with the infected person. Shortly after he realized the cut he left and got it patched up by a doctor. My whole body was covered (pants and long sleeves). I examined my hands for any cuts. Didn't notice anything. The next day I noticed a small- size of the tip of  a pen- scratch on the top of a finger. I'm really paranoid that somehow I came into contact with this man's blood. I know I never touched him but I was in his house. NO visible trace of blood came into contact with me.

Is it possible that a nonvisible amount of AIDS infected blood (he has a high viral load) somehow got into my eye? into a small, undetectable scratch somewhere on my body? without even knowing it? What about on the doorknob? I know the virus dies in like a minute, but what if I grabbed the doorknob after him and his blood was on it- and I touched my eye after touching a nonvisable amount of blood? Does viral load count? If a nonvisible amount of blood gets on me is it possible to become infected? How small does a wound have to be?

Seeing blood that I know was infected is creating extreme anxiety for me. I got an HIV test 2 days after the incident. IT was neg.--but i don't think it would have showed up that early anyway?

BOTTOM LINE-He was bleeding. I was in the same room. I had not cuts and never saw blood on me or a surface other than his skin-- risk factors for me?

[Paranoid23]

Point taken. Thanks.

[Teak]

You need to get educated on HIV transmission. It's 2009 and there is no excuse possible that you can come up with that you don't know how HIV is trasnsmitted.

[Paranoid23]

Okok, fair enough. I'm letting irrational thoughts dominate me. Just out of curiosity, does the volume of the blood (or other HIV infected fluid) matter when coming into contact with cut skin?

If a person's HIV infected blood touches somebody else's open wound is there a risk if the volume of HIV infected blood is not visible (microscopic)? I'm going to guess "no" because if this were the case it would be a lot easier to get. But then again, the virus is microscopic- so there in lies my question? And if somebody can get it from a needlestick - can they get it if there is no visible blood on the tip of the needle- and the person is stuck with the needle of an hiv infected individual?)

Thanks for sharing your thoughts/educated insights and clarification.

[Teak]

Move on.