time for you to move on take your concerns to the safety officer of the lab you work for
To clarify, during this specific incident in late June '08, I cannot recall if I was wearing a face shield or not. That's the one universal precaution that I would be prone to skip, at least up until I found out about this HIV positive blood being on one of my trays. I've been 100% adherent since.
So assuming I was NOT wearing a face shield, and a tiny, invisible, unable-to-be-felt speck of blood from the bubble covering the opening of this eppendorf-like tube made it to a mucous membrane on my face (eye, nose, mouth), would it be able to cause an infection? That's the take-home question.
I totally agree.....it's a non-risk situation.
If you continue to use universal precautions for all of your handling of blood products, you are just fine.
I still find it odd you've never been educated on the risks of HIV...just being in that field and dealing with blood...It's 2008. Come on.... Not your fault. I'm just saying...
...that has something to do with it.... Yes..
The situations where it (being infected by someone's blood non-sexually) would even be a theoretical risk are so bizarre that it's not really part of reality....
Your situation is zero risk..absolute zero.
Well, my lab is an HLA lab, not an infectious disease one. We almost exclusively receive samples of blood cancer patients, their family members, and unrelated donors for them. I think the HLA B57 situation with some HIV drug is why this sample was sent to us. And all they ever really tell us is "to use universal precautions" for all samples, ya know, to be on the safe side.
And again, I really don't think I was exposed at all, I think I would have seen or felt blood hit my face/eye/mouth, and I very well could have been wearing that face shield.
But just for peace of mind, I'm curious why you're saying that there's absolutely zero risk for me. Is it because the amount of virus needed to establish an HIV infection could not possibly have been in the amount of blood that I potentially could have been exposed to?
absolutely zero risk for you. none. even with the MS. even if the sample were to somehow splatter all over your face... still no risk.
The company you work for didn't educate you about HIV?