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Dear Doctor Parks,

Good day to you!  I have a work-related needle stick injury 2 months ago, my results at baseline- (-) hep B, (-) hep C and (-) HIV.  This remain unchanged after 2 months.  The source was (+) both for Hep B and C, (-) HIV.  I have antibodies for Hep B from previous vaccinations.  How long should I need to have my blood tested?  CDC guidelines I think mentions at least 6 months.  What about until 1 year?  Your input is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

sky
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Avatar universal
Dear Dr. Parks,

Thank you for taking the time to reply.  It is greatly appreciated.  I was sent to an urgent care doctor and I was told that there is no point of having my ALT checked because some people might have the disease and yet their ALT is within normal levels.  I suggested this to him the second time I went to see him  when the lab results came out, a few days after the needle stick injury.  I have yet to make a  follow-up appointment.  He didn't even told me about post exposure prophylaxis for HIV nor did he suggest that I should have a titer done for hep B antibodies. I told him that I read somewhere that if the titer is low, a booster shot should be given, which he proceeded to give me with out checking my titer.

I have great respect for doctors, I never had a problem with them until now.

Your input is greatly appreciated as always.

sky


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Avatar universal
Dear Sky,

Good day back to you.

At six months, if your serology remains negative, we can be over 99% certain that you will not seroconvert to Hep C positive. And, at one year the certainty of not seroconverting to HIV approaches 99%. At six months, the certainty of not seroconverting to HIV is >90%.

CDC recommendations for follow-up after exposure to HIV (+): "HIV-antibody testing should be performed for at least 6 months postexposure (e.g., at 6 weeks, 12 weeks, and 6 months). Extended HIV follow-up (e.g., for 12 months) is recommended for HCP who become infected with HCV following exposure to a source coinfected with HIV and HCV." MMWR 2001 - http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/rr/rr5011.pdf

CDC recommendations for follow-up after exposure to Hep C (+): "perform follow-up testing (e.g., at 4–6 months) for anti-HCV and ALT activity (if earlier diagnosis of HCV infection is desired, testing for HCV RNA may be performed at 4–6 weeks)."

For clarification, ALT is a liver enzyme that is used as an indicator of liver inflammation (hepatitis).

Please respond with additional questions that you may have.

~•~ Dr. Parks

This answer is not intended as and does not substitute for medical advice. The information presented in this posting is for patients’ education only. As always, I encourage you to see your personal physician for further evaluation of your individual case.
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