Pricked my finger with a pin - any risk?

[LetTheSkyfall]

At my office I pricked my finger with a pin several times. One of my coworkers might have a blood borne disease, because I heard her talking about how she got "something" from a tattoo - it might be Hepatitis or something else. I do not recall her pricking her finger on the same pin, however it's possible because we use the same tray.

Am I in any danger?

[flyinlynn]

IF she has a blood borne infection and IF she pricked her finger deep enough to draw blood, and IF you pricked your finger with the same pin deep enough to draw blood you may have had a small risk for hep c.

In the case of a health care professional who experiences an accidental needle stick involving a patient with known hep c the odds of transmission are about 1.8%.

So yours are about IF, IF, IF then less than 1.8% for hep c.

So while I believe your risk is relatively low there is no such thing as perfect safety there is nothing that is zero risk in the world.

If you are concerned get tested for hep c antibodies. Wait 6 months post a concerning event to have total confidence in test results. The reason for waiting that long is if you have a compromised immune system it can take up to 6 months for your body to create enough antibodies for a good test result.

Meanwhile is there anyway you could wear some sort of gloves for example latex to help reduce the risk if an accidental stick?

[LetTheSkyfall]

Hello, thanks for your answer. I have no idea if she had pricked her finger at all. I would probably notice it if she had done it recently before I did, but I'm just not 100% sure. Also, I don't recall bleeding particularly; it perhaps was a small red spot beneath the skin, but again, it happened several months ago. I also don't know if she has Hep - I know she has some sort of problems and she drinks alcohol very rarely, but she engages in combat sport training as well - wouldn't having a transmittable blood bourne disease disqualify her from engaging in physicial sparring? We also recently randomly talked about Hep with my colleagues and none of them mentioned her having this disease, they probably would've if she had it.

I have to admit to having health anxiety, especially involving transmittable diseases. Do you think that's a cause why I'm overthinking this situation?

[MHEditor]

We very commonly see people with health anxiety in this community, and they often do overthink situations in which they may have contracted the disease. This article is a good resource for learning more about Hep C. You'll see that it's very hard to transmit. You need direct blood-to-blood contact.

http://www.medhelp.org/hepatitis-c/articles/What-Is-Hepatitis-C/2251

[flyinlynn]

As far as I am aware having a blood borne virus would not disqualify from contact sport training although I think maybe they would not be permitted to engage in professional combat sports like boxing or MMA. But I have never researched this.

Yes I do think you are likely overthinking this. Hep c is not easily transmitted if it was easy to contract much more then the about 1% of the US population woud be infected. Also just to add with the new medicines hep c is now very treatable. The new medicines cure the majority of people infected. So even if you ever at some point in your life ever did contract hep c you can be easily cured  with the new medicines so either way you have nothing to worry about.