[Question #9370] Inflating needle

33 months ago

Hi doctors,

Yesterday I was inflating a big plastic ball with and inflating pump and after 30-45 seconds inflating I poke myself with the needle in one finger of the hand holding the ball. It was a bit painful and make me a small injury with a bit of blood.

Later I tried to check the inside of the inflating needle head and while manipulating it with a sharp small scissor I also poked myself with the scissor making another painful bleeding injury.

What mainly worry me is that I lend for a couple of days the inflating pump to a friend of mine like one month so I didn’t know if he or someone else could have poked in the same way I did.

Any risk for HIV here?

Kind regards.

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

33 months ago

I'm glad you have been able to hold off on OCD driven outlandish questions about HIV risks for 17 months -- that's a big improvement. Still, you ask again about an obviously zero risk event that anyone with normal thought processes wouldn't think twice about. Nobody in the world ever caught HIV by exposure to sharp objects in the environment. Even in the exceedingly unlikely chance someone else cut themselves on the same scissor or needle, there is no reason to suppose they had HIV; and if they did, that enough blood was left behind to be a risk; and if that happened, that HIV could survive in the blood more than a few minutes.

Practice safe sex and do not share drug injection equipment with anyone else, and you will never be at risk for HIV.

Even with the low frequency with which you have asked such questions, this will have to be your last one. Repeated anxiety driven questions are subject to deletion without reply, and without refund of the posting fee. ASHA is not keen on collecing fees to provide obvious, predictable answers, or to be a substitute for the professional counseling that usually is necessary to address this sort of problem. In addition, such questions have little educational value for other users, one of the forum's main purposes. Thank you for your understanding.

Best wishes and stay safe.

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33 months ago

Thank you and best regards Dr Handsfield

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

33 months ago

Thank you for the good wishes. Best regards to you as well, and stay safe!---