How at risk am I for HIV at work

Hi, I

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

As I write this line, I haven't even read your question, only it's title:  "How at risk am I for HIV at work?"  Regardless of what the rest of your question says, unless you are in the sex trade, the answer "Not at all."

Now I will go ahead and read your question.  [I'm not making this up.  I really haven't read the question until now.  And I'm so sure of the response above that I promise not to change it, regardless of what I read.  OK, now I'm looking at it.]

OK, I read it.  Yup, I was right.  There is no risk from any of those "exposures".  OK, I'll grant a theoretical risk on the "poking with staples" question.  But when is the last time someone poked himself with a staple, left it behind, and someone else came along and pulled the same dumb trick and stapled his or her thumb?

If you are sexually active in a high-risk way, or if you are an injection drug user, by all means use the Home Access test kit.  If the exposures above are all you are concerned about, go donate the test kit to someone who really needs it.  You don't.

Regards--  HHH, MD

[hazard]

Thanks for the quick response.  But as to the coment about the staple, it happens quite a bit.  And often on the same staple.  I worked in the garment district and fabrick samples have tags on them which tended to poke us on a regular basis.  Often relitively soon after a person had just stuck themselves.  I refuse to let such a small risk dictate the rest of my life but it is something to think about.

[Christie2004]

Not that I have anything to add about HIV risk, but I'm very curious at to the frequent poking you mention from tags.  Must be very annoying to say the least.  I would think you would be more at risk from say, staph infections or hepatitis than HIV.

What protective methods does your employer provide for this clearly job related hazard?  OSHA would probably be interested in this issue--no one should be faced with going to work everyday and being poked with tags or needles.  There are other infective agents out there that are more easily transmisible than HIV, and you deserve to be protected against them.

[JohnnyV]

Hi,

To avoid bacterial infections, can you wear gloves or something when handling staples?

J

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

I am not an attorney nor an expert in legal issues regarding workplace safety, and the following as an unofficial opinion.

If there is a legitimate risk, in any work environment, that an employee could be injured with a sharp instrument and that instrument could then potentially injure someone else, then the business has a legal obligation under federal law to follow the same sort of standards required of hospitals and health care establishments.  The issue isn't just HIV, but other blood borne infections, such as hepatitis.  The regulations apply regardless of whether any employees are known to be at risk for such infections.  Virtually all states have similar laws, and the penalties for noncompliance may be severe.  In addition, if such precautions were not in place, a business might be found liable for damages in a lawsuit by an employee who was injured in such an event, even if no infection occurred.

Therefore, if what you say is true, that injury of more than one person by the same staple "happens quite a bit", you need to take that information to your supervisor; and if you don't get a satisfactory response there, to someone responsible for workplace safety.  Regardless of whether or not there is a person with known HIV or at risk for HIV in the work environment, your employer may be out of compliance with federal and state law.

You never know what you'll learn from an innocent STD-related question on this forum!

HHH, MD

[hazard]

Could the HIV virus live on the staple? and if so how long?

[Foxxtrot]

Once the virus is exposed to oxygen, it dies. You cannot catch HIV by sharing food, drink, or anything like that. It's only transmitted through blood, semen, vaginal secretions or breast milk. And even then, it has to be the right kind of membrane to absorb it ... so if your co-worker's HIV infected blood lands on your skin, you will not catch HIV. Even if you have a cut and his infected blood falls into your cut, because the virus has been exposed to oxygen it is likely dead and you will probably not get HIV. However a staple injecting possibly infected blood into your body is not a good scenario. Its not that it CAN'T happen, its that it's extremely unlikely.

I recommend wearing gloves, or something to protect yourself. Your employer should be providing this for you. I highly recommend that you inform your employer about this situation immediately, and I also recommend that you call OSHA *ASAP*. The number *SHOULD* be posted in a public place, such as a lunch or break room.

Until then, don't expose yourself to this situation any longer, either have your duties modified so you are no longer exposed to HIV infected blood, or quit.  HIV is a serious and deadly disease. I see a lot of people trying to "talk it down" on here, closing threads and telling people to stop panicking, and trying to act like its not so scary. HIV causes AIDS, and AIDS will kill you in the most painful way imaginable, way before your time. You're right to be scared.

[JohnnyV]

Hi,

Just as a response to your last sentences there, I think I can clarify a few things to you. When threads are closed, it is not because people have done so intentionally as a way to minimize the risk of HIV. It is an automated response on the website after 25 comments have been posted.

Also, there is a difference between "talking down" HIV and "acting like it's not so scary" and simply focusing on facts without the distracting emotions of fear, panic, anxiety, and dread. Most of the sheer facts about HIV point to the reality that people on this forum are overwhelmingly not at risk or at low risk of being infected, so therefore in a rational sense, their panic is not warranted and they are not right to feel scared, even though HIV causes AIDs and AIDs kills people (by the way, not in the "worst way imaginable" -- HIV is manageable and there are many worse ways to die, such as being blown up on a battlefield or drowning to death in a hurricane). The Chicken Little method of trying to tell people to "be afraid all the time" of getting HIV is actually prone to backfiring; i.e., hazard may exhaust himself worrying about a staple and then not be awake enough to realize that his unprotected vaginal sex with a promiscuous partner when he is drunk is something more important to worry about. It's good to keep an eye on the severity of HIV, but turning it into a constant alarm helps nobody, other than HIV itself, which can then take advantage of the ensuing confusion to spread while people are distracted with their paranoias.

J