Worried

[cyball]

I was talking to a co-worker of mine and in the process he accidently spit eye. I never said anything to him but afterwards my eye started feeling weird. It just happened so I don't feel any pain but I was wondering, is there anything I need to worry about?

[Willy50]

The odds of transmission are slight IF the person has HCV, HBV, HAV.  I don't think you'll find many (or any) documented cases.

Of course, IF the person has none of those viruses it is IMPOSSIBLE.

IF a person had any of those viruses I don't believe the symptoms would manifest in the eye, much less after a few hours.

It looks as though a person is obsessing about an occurrence and the mind is creating symptoms......that an uninformed person suspects would manifest if exposed to hep A, B, or C.

I have seen no claims of transmission from spit in the eye.  
I think a "great" answer would be to suggest that the transmission odds are slim to none.  I'm afraid that providing a link stating there is Hep B DNA presence in tears of infected people only tells half the story and promotes needless fear and hysteria.

Whats next?  Infection from handshakes?
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Hepatitis-Social/Blood-Absorbtion-Tru-the-Skin/show/1030688

It looks like more hysteria from here......

(and it serves to distract us from the worldwide avian...... oops, I mean swine flu pandemic)  ; )

best,
Willy

[Rockerforlife]

Hepatitis B surface antigen, DNA polymerase, and hepatitis B virus DNA have been sought in the tears of 72 patients. These markers were detected in a high percentage of hepatitis B carriers, which proves the presence of hepatitis B virus in the tears and raises the question of its eventual transmission in this way. The severity and extreme contagiousness of hepatitis B together with the increasing number of virus carriers justify systematic sanitary rules among ophthalmic clinicians and staff, but vaccination remains the best mean of limiting the spread of the disease.


i know its not about hep C,but its important to know


http://bjo.bmj.com/content/73/5/333.abstract

[Rockerforlife]

It is a great question,i think its possible you may get hep B

[copyman]

wear goggles or scuba mask next conversation, maybe he will get the hint :-)

[GSDgirl]

maybe carry some eyewash with you when he is around????

[nygirl7]

Uh just no.  Maybe next time he comes around stand back farther from him knowing he's an accidental sprayer!