Used Syringe

[elilily]

Hi Folks, Teak from reading here, you seem quite educated on risk. I was at a party and have never used IV drugs before but with a little alchohol my judgement went south. I was with a group of people who were shooting up. I have never done it before so a guy put the needle in my vein and I came to my senses and pulled away. Nothing was injected but when I asked, another person had used it before me as they only had two needles. With nothing being injected into my blood and the 5 minute time gap, would I still be at risk? I have read that if exposed to air teh virus becoes inactivated. They said they were negative but it is a high risk group and I dont believe them for sure. Thanks,

[Teak]

No it is not a guarantee that you will contract HIV from this exposure. The only way to know is for you to test at the proper time.

[elilily]

If any of them were postive. wouild I for sure catch the virus with this exposure or is there still a chance of not getting it.

[elilily]

I get my tests payed for so I will test at 6 weeks and follow up with a three month. If it is 95%, that will give me a good base line and relieve some anxiety. I see the doctors are pretty confident in a 6 week test but for high risk recomend a 3 month as well. Thanks for the feedback.

[Teak]

There are no tests that will give anyone a conclusive test result earlier than three months.

[snippets69]

Test at 6 weeks elilily if you're anxious. That will be at least 95% conclusive.  It is EXTREMELY unlikely your result will change after a 6 week test. Check the Dr's  forum archives here at medhelp for more test time information.

[Teak]

There is NO test that will give you a conclusive negative result at 6 weeks. You'll need to test at 3 months to get a conclusive negative result. There is no reason to pay for two tests when one test will do it. If you were to test positive at 6 weeks from being recently infected you would not go on meds anyway.

[snippets69]

There's no need to go through 3 months of anxiety.  Get tested at 6 weeks.  At 6 weeks the ELISA will catch 95%+ of positives. If it's negative, chances are better than excellent it'll stay that way.  Follow up with a 3 month test.

[elilily]

OKay, I will get tested but what would teh chances be if there were infected blood on it? Jst trying to get through the 3 months with a little optimism. Thanks for al your input.

[Teak]

Just get tested.

[elilily]

You say that it can live inside the needle for longer but if I did not inject anything all I would have been exposed to was the blood that would have been on the needle itself correct,

[terrified1968]

I wld say also at risk for HepB . Pls test for all 3.

[snippets69]

HIV and HEP C CAN live inside the needle for longer than it would if it were exposed to air. If someone is infected with HIV, it's going straight into the needle.when they shoot.  

If the needle broke your skin you should test.  But that's not to say you should be freaked out.  It most likely will be negative.

[elilily]

Even though I didint inject anything I am still at risk for HIV and Hep C and with it exposed to air? Stupid mistake, I sure hope I can be lucky on this. Any other comments out there?

[snippets69]

Your risk would be bigger for HEP C than HIV at 5 minutes. But this is about as risky as it gets.

If they said they were negative, they PROBABLY were telling the truth as far as they knew it.

You might want to get yourself checked for both HIV and HEP C.

For HEP C test timing, you'll have to find out yourself.  For the HIV, check the Dr's forum archives here at medhelp.  A 4 week test at 4 weeks would catch 90% of those who are going to be positive.