That sort of exposure definintely does not warrant HIV testing on the basis of transmission risk. Whether you need a negative test for reassurance, i.e. for psychological reasons, is up to you.
Thank you for your reply. It is definitely reassuring to hear you say that most serconversions are from needlestick injuries.
Just a quick question...Do you think that the situations that I described merit any HIV testing, and if so, what interval of testing would be appropriate to see that there was no seroconversion. I know that you have answered many questions like this before, but I would be reassured to hear what you have to say about the scenarios I described, and wheher you think that there may be a potential risk, granted that most seroconversions occur with needles. Thanks a lot.
To clarify my comment about no unexplained occupational HIV infections, I should have specified "to my knowledge". And of course there are health professionals who acquired HIV through standard behavioral exposures (sex, injection drug use) -- and I suppose it is possible some of those might have had uncertainties about the source of their infections. But the basic take-home message of my reply stands unchanged.
Welcome to the forum. I'll try to help. But you have put your finger (with or without a hangnail) on the main problem here, which is your difficulty reconciling your intellectual understanding of the risks with your somewhat irrational fear about it.
Occupational infection with HIV is extremely rare among health professionals. There has never been an unexplained acquisition of HIV by health professionals. If you think about your personal experiences in patient care plus your general knowledge, and knowing that many or most physicians, nurses, etc probably are less careful about these things than you are, you will understand that across the US each year there must be tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of "exposures" like you describe, either to people with known HIV infection or patients infected but not tested or diagnosed. And yet no unexplained HIV acquisitions in health workers. The very few cases that occur (under 10 per year, I believe) always follow overt, known exposures like deep/traumatic injuries with HIV contaminated instruments. What does that tell you?
This is not a counseling site and I am not a mental health professional. But I doubt that most people like you "will get over this worry" without professional assistance. I'm glad to hear you are consulting a psychiatrist and suggest you continue to do so.
Best wishes for successful training and a rewarding career. You have no realistic worries that an occupational HIV infection is going to spoil it.
Regards-- HHH, MD