possible HIV risk from blood-to-wound

[droopy722]

Would appreciate your time and tolerance in answering the following:

At my workplace, on the aircraft as a flight attendant, I had a deep cut and a colleague helped me by taking out of the medical kit the hansaplast plasters and applying one on my wound whilst I was holding my finger. That was ofcourse very kind of him but my worry is that he did not use a glove and if he had a cut himself or blood on his finger when touching the plaster which he then applied on my wound would that pose HIV transmiison risk? I know all this is 'what-if' and theoretical but in our job unnoticed cuts happen often and I would appreciate an answer based on the assumption that he had HIV blood from his finger on the plaster, when oepning it for me, which he then applied on my wound.

Wanted to add that exactly 4 weeks after the incident I developed a non-dry cough lasting over a week and on another site I posted my risk I received the following reply which worries me that there may be a transfer of blood from a bandage to my wound:

''The theoretical risk would be fresh HIV-tainted blood coming into contact with your open wound. This would be an extremely remote possibility. If you're worried, you could get an HIV-antibody test at the three-month mark. I'm confident the result would be negative''

Would appreciate any other comments please.
Happy 2010!

[droopy722]

Hi to everyone,

Just wanted to share my negative result with all of you and hopefully this will help us all realise how OCD makes us suffer unrealistic fears..please read my posts and you will see how unrealistic my fears were concerning HIV transmission.

With more therapy and more encouragement we can all fight OCD!
Thank you to everyone for your time and patience in dealing with my posts

[mandylynn0621]

I didn't mean more contagious, but lives longer out of body.

[mandylynn0621]

Highly unlikely! hiv virus is very delicate. With your OCD, which we all know is spent worrying ALOT, why would you let someone who is positive get near your wound? Hep C virus is even more contagious. My sister has it and i got her blood all over me and my daughter even in my mouth because of an accident and we tested neg. I spent many months worried over this, which is understandable right? I think you shouldn't worry about this. You will find out soon if your neg or not right?

[droopy722]

Hey guys,

i have made some progress re: OCD (or at least i thought so...) but as my HIV test is approaching next Tuesday my fears from the incident above are starting to take control over me once more..i need the test because i am a flight attendant and my job requires it.

Can someone please tell me how likely is it that a few days of sore throat followed by a week's-long cough are early ARS symptoms after 4 weeks of my so-called 'exposure' and how likely is it that the bandage could transfer blood to my wound if my colleague who touched that bandage had blood on his finger when applying it to my wound..(my colleague is HIV-positive)

Many thanks to all and sorry to trouble you with this..

[droopy722]

Thank you, Tangled, for the time and details in your reply..I very much appreciate it.
I do see a therapist about it and try to work with myself, too (yoga, meditation etc) but I am at the very beginning..I have had many tests before and want to stop the pattern of getting tested therefore was seeking for advice as to whether this could be a risk, actually whether he touched the bandage with blood and then from the bandage to my wound if the blood could be transmitted or would it have been absorbed by the plaster..that is more my fear..

[Tangled]

HIV, unlike most viruses has to be within a host or culture at a temperature of 98.6 degrees give or take only a degree or two. Outside of the body, the virus dies within minutes without the temperature necessary for its survival. It, unlike many of its virus cousins, does not have the ability to go into a spore state and "shut down" until another viable host comes along. Its cell walls begin to deteriorate within minutes after leaving its host. If your colleague had an open and bleeding cut on his finger, don't you think you would have seen that? Blood is not a difficult thing to miss and I would think that if he had a bleeding cut he would have tended to his own injury first. I seriously doubt he was running around dripping blood. Even if he had a non-bleeding wound you would have dang near  zero transmission risk, and in fact, at that point it would be your colleague who should be worrying over being exposed to your blood! Your blood would be entering HIS wound. Once exposed to air the HIV virus begins to break down and die. I would not worry about this unless you were punctured with a needle from a drug user. Your transmission risk in this situation is so remote that you're probably more likely to have Santa Claus show up at your door with Rudolph, his red-nosed reindeer. I don't mean to poke fun or act like this isn't a serious issue for you, I'm trying to get you to see that this is your OCD playing with your mind. I have OCD too and I know exactly what you're dealing with and it's hell, I get it. OCD is a serious anxiety disorder that causes repetitive, ridiculous and intrusive thoughts and actions. It causes worry, self-doubt and enjoys taunting you. If you are not currently seeing a Psychiatrist I would highly advise that you do. You need to get a handle on this before it takes complete control over you, providing it already hasn't.

By the way, your cough, were it to be caused from HIV, would likely NOT leave after a week. It's unrelated and due to another cause.

However, if you're still worried about this, take the advice from the person who replied to your question on another site and get the testing required. No harm and it will ease your fears, but as long as you continue to give in to your OCD, the harder it will be to get a handle on this. It's a vicious cycle.

Good luck!