[Question #9381] Hiv scare
33 months ago
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Hello doctors, I asked a question a few weeks ago about getting hiv because I got stuck by a dirty needle from the street. That was on November 2nd and I just today got an early detection hiv test from lab corp. so I do have ocd and there was dried(what I think was dry) blood on the table arms where I got the test. This has me concerned that not only the labcorp is careless but that some how there could be cross contamination and I could have gotten hiv from this test I just got today.
I was wondering if anyone has ever gotten hiv while getting their blood drawn from someone else blood on dirty equipment and what the chances are this exposure gave me hiv.
I am also wondering if the results of this test will be accurate from the neddle stick incident. Should I be worried and is there any risk of me giving hiv to my wife during sex?
Thank you for your time.
33 months ago
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Additional I wanted to add that last year I tested positive for Hep A and also got another test at the same time today for Hep a.
Can I trust these results. Thank you
33 months ago
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I also wanted to ask if there is risk from today’s exposure when should I get tested again
33 months ago
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One last question…. My wife had a uti and starting taking antibiotics last week and I was wondering when it’s safe to have unprotected sex again without it spreading to me
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
33 months ago
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Welcome back to the forum. However, almost all your questions (this is your fifth) reflect heightened anxiety way out of proportion to the actual risks, perhaps enhanced by obsessive online searching. My replies are succinct.
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"...wondering if anyone has ever gotten hiv while getting their blood drawn from someone else blood on dirty equipment..." No, this has never happened. "...and what the chances are this exposure gave me hiv." Zero.
"I am also wondering if the results of this test will be accurate from the neddle stick incident. Should I be worried and is there any risk of me giving hiv to my wife during sex?" Answered by Dr. Hook in your last thread, no change. The needle didn't even penetrate the skin enough to draw blood and could not have transmitted HIV even if it were heavily contaminated with the virus. You should not be tested for HIV and should not stop having sex with your wife.
Hepatitis A testing: Many IgM antibody tests, for hepatitis A or anything else, risk false positive results. That's obviously what happened, as predicted by Dr. Hook. You do not have hepatitis A and never did.
"Risk from today's exposure": Asked and answered above. No risk and you should not be tested on account of this event.
"My wife had a uti...wondering when it's safe to have unprotected sex." Well whaddaya know, a somewhat meaningful question! But no worries here at all. UTIs are not sexually transmitted and you cannot catch your wife's infection, which is caused by entirely normal bacteria that you undoubtedly already are carrying. It would be best to not have sex until her symptoms have cleared up -- not because it would harm her, but might be uncomfortable. Whenever she feels up to it, there need be no hesitation, whether or not she is still on her antibiotic.
The forum has a policy against repeated anxiety driven questions, especially about patently low risk events as everybody knows (or should know), and we also frown when the identical question is asked in different words for reassurance. ASHA is not keen on collecting fees in this situation, and such questions obviously have limited educational value for other users, one of the forum's purposes. So this will have to be your last -- OK? I also advise against all the STD and HIV testing you do at the drop of a hat, and also that you stop searching the internet about any of this. (The statistician Nate Sliver [www.fivethirtyeight.com] wrote a book about public understanding of data and numbers, "The Signal and the Noise". In it he writes [approximate quote] "Give an anxious person a computer with an internet connection in a dark room and soon he'll believe his common cold is the bubonic plague." Sound familiar?)
Finally, I hope you're in counseling for your OCD, which obviously is having a rather negative impact on your life and happiness. I suggest it from compassion, not criticism.
Best wishes-- HHH, MD
33 months ago
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Thank you so much for your response. You’re not being too hard, I know I have mental issues, and your answers make me feel so much better. I just gotta tell myself I need to get over this obsession. I have been under a lot of strees the past couple days and my ocd tends to get worse when this happens. I am taking med for it but I think I need more and maybe some therapy. This whole thing is very embarrassing but I can’t that you enough for taking the time to give me such a detailed message. You are truly a hero.
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
33 months ago
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Thanks for the thanks and for your understanding. I'm glad to be of help.---