Needle stick with hep c positive pt..

[johnson88aj06]

I was at work today, I am a dialysis tech. Another tech pulled the needles of a pt while I sat up the machine. While throwing away his "trash" there was an open needle in the mix. It pierced my index finger. This pt is hiv negative and hep b negative with antibodies. However when he first started dialysis with us 2 plus years ago, he was hep c positive. I went to now care today and had labs done on me as well as taking his blood to be tested also.. What I want to know is how worried should I be about contracting hep c from him.. The blood that was in the needle was mixed with saline, and the whole needle did not go in only the tip .. I believe, (Its a 15g hollow needle) It all happened soo fast :(...

[Bill1954]

Hi there,

Any time blood is exchanged there is a chance of transmission, so you were correct in reporting this and dealing with any PeP protocols that are required. From a practical standpoint, the U.S. CDC suggests that odds of HCV transmission via percutaneous needle stick accidents is low. Here is a supporting link:

“…Needle stick Risk for Occupational Transmission of HCV
HCV is not transmitted efficiently through occupational exposures to blood. The average incidence of anti-HCV seroconversion after accidental percutaneous exposure from an HCV-positive source is 1.8% (range: 0%--7%) (73--76), with one study indicating that transmission occurred only from hollow-bore needles compared with other sharps (75).”

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5011a1.htm

Good luck and take care—

-Bill

[GFRY]

the good thing is HCV is not oftenly transmitted by needle stick , that is for sure but you need to get tested any way after 2 or 3 weeks by HCV RNA PCR test