Transmission through cuts?

[Billy1212]

I am probably being paranoid but I can’t get these thoughts out of my head. I hope I’m on the right forum too. If not, someone please let me know.

On Sat night a friend of mine introduced me to an acquaintance of his who’s moved over from India or maybe Pakistan, and we shook hands. The following afternoon I remembered that I had a 4-day old paper cut near the bottom knuckle of my left finger, where the guy would’ve grasped when we shook hands. I had been covering up the cut but had forgotten about it on this day. When I noticed the cut the following day it was scabbed over, & when I scratched away the scab it didn’t bleed, but when I stretched & squeezed the skin a lot, it oozed a clear liquid.

My worry is, if the guy had an open wound that touched my cut, and he had a virus such as Hep C or B (or even HIV –although I’ve read you can’t catch it thru paper cuts, but some say you can…it’s confusing)? I guess my question really boils down to, if my paper cut had scabbed over by the following day, would that have meant it would have probably been healed enough the previous day to stop any possible infection getting into my blood stream, since I’ve read that skin heals from the inside out? Then I wonder what if I had accidentally knocked it and re-opened the wound but didn’t realise it at the time? Would it scab over as quickly as the next day?

I know I’m really scrutinising the situation but I can’t get these thoughts out of my head. I’m annoyed at myself for not covering up the wound as I normally do. Am I being too paranoid and self-indulgent, or is there a slight chance here?

Thank very much to anyone who answers – would love some expert advice.  

[newleaf09]

But you'd still have to have an open wound on your paw.

[Rockerforlife]

Havnt you ever heard of the wild cougar,she just lives down the hall.

[IAmTheWalrus]

Having sex with a mountain lion is just too weird to contemplate!

[IAmTheWalrus]

If anyone is having sex on a regular basis with 10,000 people .... that's what I call getting around! ;-)

[Rockerforlife]

Depends on the cat too,if its mountain lion,your odds go up.

[newleaf09]

Through cuts? Oh I thought you wrote cats!  You have about equal chances of contracting Hep C from either source.

[Rockerforlife]

Your odds of winning a lottery is almost just as good.

[Rockerforlife]

1-2% of all the people on the planet have hepatitis C.The odds of contracting hep C from sex with someone you know who has it or even using someones tooth brush is 1-2%,so ive read.So shaking hands and casual contact with a stranger the odds are even lower, id estimate less than 1%....so. to make it easy to do the the math:1/2 % of say 2% eguals .0001.

SO...you have less than 1 in 10,000 chance getting hep C.

[Billy1212]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

I'm sorry if I have offended anyone, because my intent was not to be racist. I would have scrutinized the situation no matter who it was. It was just that he was someone I didn't know and my friend didn't know that well either coz he'd not been living here for long. I don't even presume my friend in disease-free - you never know.

And, nygirl7,  my post did say that I'd been covering my wound, it was just on the fourth day I had forgotten it was there. I would never leave it exposed intentionally - for my sake and, more importantly, others.

Anyway, thanks again everyone. I will try to not to stress about this.

[IAmTheWalrus]

Yes, you are being too paranoid IMO. There's always the test if you have any doubts.

[nygirl7]

You have no reason to believe the person you greeted with a handshake is carrying any disease, do you?

If it was this easy to catch hepC from anyone from "India or Pakistan" then we would all undoubtedly have hep - the entire world would be infected by their Indian Pakistani hep blood.

Please start wearing bandaids - if your cut is oozing I can't imagine how many people you have contaminated with your germs.

[FlGuy]

The part I found interesting was that you began to scrutinize the situation because the person was from India or Pakistan yet you assumed your friend is disease-free.

[Marcia2202]

It is highly unlikely that you could catch anything this way. If not almost everyone in this world would be infected.

Get it out of your mind and treat your cut, if it is oozing. It is easy to get infected, especially when the weather is hot.

[Billy1212]

Thanks for the reply, jdwithhcv.

I didn't really look at the person's hand so couldn't say if he had a wound or not - I didn't think about it at the time. I probably am obsessing, but the funny thing is I do have plenty to do with my time at the moment, but these thoughts are getting in the way.

Can anyone else offer their opinion? Thank you.

[jdwithhcv]

"Am I being too paranoid and self-indulgent"

Yes, in my opinion you are.  You have no reason to believe the person you greeted with a handshake is carrying any disease, do you?  And most likely you would have noticed if he had an open wound, wouldn't you?

If you are genuinely concerned, get tested.  If you are simply obsessing about "what if" scenarios you should try to find a hobby or something productive to do with your time.