needle stick

[bmwjor]

hi
I am working as a nurse in a hospital, before 1 week i had a needle stick accidentally in my finger after performing an IM injection for a patient, i think the needle stick was superficial bcoz i didn't even bleed from my finger, but really am so afraid now  
what is the possibility that i will get infected with HCV if that person was infected with it??? and when can i test to make sure that every thing is ok??
plz help me, am sooooo anxious and this week was like hell ..

[bmwjor]

negative result at 6 weeks using HCV antibody test, when can i have a conclusive result???

[HectorSF]

Sorry about that. I meant to say...
* HCV is a blood to blood disease. It you didn't bleed, you CAN'T be infected with HCV.
It didn't go from blood to blood.

Cheers.
Hectorsf

[nygirl7]

I would never have thought to get vaccinated for HBV had the doctor not ordered it after being diagnosed.  Why not get the hepA vaccine at the same time - I thought they were done together like with all of us (twinrix what is it called?)

[Trinity4]

bmwjor has been vaccinated against HBV but I guess you can never be too careful.

[Bill1954]

It’s absolutely important to report these instances and follow up with any relevant Post Exposure Prophylaxis programs. Typically, a health care worker involved in a needle stick accident will be tested for baseline presence of infectious disease; this is important to rule out any existing antibodies. There are also prophylactic measures, including HBV immunoglobins that can be administered if required.

With that said, the relative risk for infection is low; this is from the U.S. CDC on the matter:

“Nedle 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

Best of luck to you—

--Bill

[GSDgirl]

get tested for whatever they can test for, I would

[Trinity4]

Ok, so you've been vaccinated against hepb.  Scratch that off the list.  I can't comment on HIV testing and how long a person must wait but with HCV approximately two weeks after exposure and IF you were infected the virus can be detected by HCV RNA by PCR.

Speculation on our part as to what your risk was is simply that, speculation.  Test in several weeks and you'll know for sure.

Trinity

[nygirl7]

I think he meant to say
If you didn't bleed you cannot be infected with HCV.

It has to be blood to blood passed.

[bmwjor]

hey guys
i informed the hospital after 12 hour from the stick and they took blood from me the 2nd day after the stick but unfortunately the sample was rejected bcoz something wrong happened during labeling the sample.. so one doctor told me that the test will be absolutely negative now and it is useless to do it now and i have to wait several weeks then do the test again to get the right results.
they wanted to test me for HBV, HCV, HIV at that time, but the sample was rejected
by the way am vaccinated against HBV  


and sorry Diane i didnt mean to ignore u, but really am living a bad life from a week till today, forgive me plz

a question for HectorSF,, i didnt understand this sentence "* HCV is a blood to blood disease. It you didn't bleed you be infected with HCV. " could u explain plz?

[HectorSF]

* You need to report this to the hospital and follow the proper protocol for such an incident.
* HCV is a blood to blood disease. It you didn't bleed you be infected with HCV.
* There may be other diseases that you could possibly contract. So again follow hospital protocol.

Hectorsf

[nygirl7]

Diane is right you need to report this to the hospital - if you were to turn up positive they could not fire you however there are laws in place that could protect you should you need time off etc.

They will know every test to test for and make sure you are well covered. I mean you'll do the PCR through the hospital so it won't exactly be a secret anyway right?

[Diane12855]

Just a thought.......... recently we have read about patients at the Mayo Clinic being exposed to HCV because one of the ex-ray techs shot their pain meds into himself and then gave the patients the remains mixed with a little water.

I notice you are ignoring me so I feel the need to say this:
When hospital or clinical personelle refuse to follow protocol which has been set up for their protection... ultimately it is the patients who suffer. Please... for all of your future patient's sake... follow all protocols.

Diane

[bmwjor]

ok, thnx  susie can u tell how many weeks should i wait to to the viral load test??

[SusieS2010]

There is only a 2% risk to healthcare workers. A viral load test (HCV by PCR/RNA) should tell you in a matter of weeks. An antibody test takes longer. The average time is 11 weeks for antibodies to develop. It can take up to 6 months.

[Diane12855]

Google "Blood born diseases" That should give you a list to test for. But honestly, the hospital already knows what needs to check for and when to check. It seems that you don't want to go that route, and I can't understand your reasoning.

Diane

[bmwjor]

thnx
what other tests should i do?? and how many weeks should i wait to test my blood??

[Diane12855]

My first question is did you report the needle stick at the hospital and follow the protocol they have set up? If so,  they should have already told you what you need to do because they have a policy set up to cover all possible transmitted diseases possible with needle stick. If you haven't, you need to because you could be fired if they find out you didn't report it later on.

There is a small chance of getting HCV via needle stick IF the patient was infected and you need to wait a few weeks and get some lab work done to see if you have been infected. But really, there are other things you need to be tested for... which I think the hospital will pay for if you do it their way.

Diane