When I removed this band aid and cotton ball a few hours later, I noticed a small reddish-brown discoloration on the cotton ball. It was definitely NOT my blood, as I could see the dried blood that had come out from my venipuncture wound separately on another area of this cotton ball.

Also, on closely looking at this small reddish-brown discoloration on the cotton ball, it definitely did not look like dried blood at all. 

Basically my questions are: 

Thank you for your time and patience 

Obviously, I have no idea as to what the reddish discoloration was on the cotton ball.  That said, I would not worry about the situation you describe.  The reasons for this are multiple and I will list some of those below:

1.  If somehow someone else's blood had gotten on the cotton ball, it is unlikely the the person who was the source of the blood would be a person with untreated HIV.  HIV is uncommon and over half of persons who have HIV are on treatment, making them non-infectious.

2.  HIV looses it's infectiousness on contact with the environment.  Both drying and room temperature contribute to this very quickly.

3. We're HIV containing blood on the cotton ball, the virus would stick to the cotton fibers, not be transferred to you.

4.  The puncture would have sealed and would not provide access to your blood stream, which would be need to cause infection.

5.  FYI, there are no proven cases in which a person has become HIV infected through the sort of exposure you describe.

My advice:

1.  See above, this sort of exposure would not put you at risk for HIV.

2. Testing is always a personal choice however I see no medical or scientific reason for testing.  Should you choose to test to address any lingering concerns you might have, a HIV R?NA PCR test would provide conclusive results any time more than 11 days following the event you describe or, alternatively, you could wait to test for 6 weeks using the most widely used test, a 4th generation, combination HIV antigen/antibody test.

I hope this information and perspective is helpful. If anything is unclear please use your up to 2 follow-ups for clarification.  EWH

Once again, thank you for your time and expert advice 

2.  The symptoms did start too soon and neither thigh pain nor a runny nose suggests the ARS.

3.  Even if the cotton ball was reused and contaminated as you suggest, you would not be at risk.

Please don’t worry.  EWH

1.  To cause infection material carrying the virus must enter the bloodstream. As I have already explained above first, any virus present would adhere to the cotton fibers, and second and more importantly it would remain on the surface of the skin outside the vein and the bloodstream. The sort of event you describe would not Introduce material into your vein. 

2.  I cannot address whether your runny nose or the thigh pain you described might be due to medications you are taking or not. What I can tell you, however, is that they are not signs of recently acquired HIV. In addition, as I also mentioned to you, the symptoms of recently acquired HIV would not begin within two days of infection.  If the symptoms you are experiencing are troublesome, you should probably talk about them with your doctor.

3.  The typical sides of the ARS due to recently acquired. HIV is a severe flu like illness occurring somewhere between seven and 20 days following an exposure. The typical symptoms include a high temperature, severe sore throat, widespread muscle, and or joint aches. In a minority of persons, there may be a rash or diarrhea. 

I really think you are worrying about this far more than you need to. As I mentioned in my initial comments, there has never been a case of HIV proven to have been acquired in the manner you described. I hope that my reassurance and the information I have provided will be helpful to you moving forward EWH