In need of a risk assesment and advice on a possible needle exposure

[tjansz]

Hi Dr EWH/HHH,

I've been provided with factual risk assessments on an exposure and I've tested negative up to 11 weeks despite having ongoing systems.

I moved on from it  however the risk assessment I'm after now is for a possible needle exposure during my last blood test.I don’t know why all these unfortunate incidents happen to me all the time. Please do share your valuable opinion on the following incident sir!

At my last test for hiv and other stds which was 10.5 weeks post exposure I can remember the nurse accidently came in touch with the needle before drawing blood from my arm. I can’t recall if it was exactly the pointy part of it but it was more like the side of the needle and she didn’t even seem to notice it.I also didn’t raise the issue as according to what I saw it was not a penetration but just a regular contact/brush up of her fingers at the side of the needle just above the sharp pointy section.The Nurse was wearing gloves as well.

What is the risk of this incident? After one week of this incident (day before yesterday) I started getting a severe flu and at night the fever starts breaking down with drenching night sweats. It was the worst night sweat I had during all these 12 weeks and was like flooding under my covers. I still have the fever and night sweats and severe musle burning and wasting.

Is it possible to get that sort of high fever and drenching night sweats after one week?

I informed the doctor of that clinic yestarday and she said it’s  unlikely that the nurse has any sort of a disease like that since they regularly monitor her health as she’s a patient who has had a kidney transplant.I noticed that nurse had a very noticeable body rash as well.

What shall I do doctor? shall I go for a PCR test (it’s still 9 days after that incident) and convince her to get tested as well? Please help me!


Thanks a million!

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

That's like asking "If I jump off a 30 story building, do you think I might die?"  In other words, the premise is nonsensical:  nobody ever re-uses needles.  If they did, HIV could be transmitted, but this is another irrational worry.

That's the last comment on this thread.

[tjansz]

Thanks for the response! Does that mean even if someone's blood get drawn by an infected needle, still no hiv risk?

That is a bit strange, anyhow I'll keep that in my mind and try by best to move on!

[tjansz]

I'm waiting impatiently for your guidance  and I hope you won't consider this as a repetitive post!


Regards

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Nobody ever gets HIV from having blood drawn.  Your symptoms suggest you had influenza or other garden-variety infection and I'm sure that illness was entirely unrelated to the blood draw.  Do not get tested again for HIV.

Only a limited number of new questions can be accepted each day, and excessive ones block others with their own questions.  For that reason, and in order to prevent domination of the forums anxiety-driven questions like yours, MedHelp allows a maximum of 2 questions every 6 months on each of the professionally moderated forums (clearly stated in Terms and Conditions).  This is your third since January.  I'm sure you weren't aware of the rule (nobody really reads Terms and Conditions, do they?) -- so I'm letting this one stand.  However, any more questions by you before about a year from now will be deleted without reply, and without refund of the posting fee.

As Dr. Hook advised in one of your other threads, you obviously do not understand HIV transmission and have, to be frank and honest, irrational and abnormal fears about it.  Professional counseling would make sense.  I suggest it out of compassion, not criticism.  But discussions on line are not a substitute for that, so there will be no further discussion or comments on this thread.  

HHH, MD