I am a health care professional. Today I was putting a peripheral IV in a 92-year old woman in Chicago, and failed and withdrew the catheter that had been flushed with normal saline. I tossed it to the side probably a foot and a half away. When I did that I felt something in my eyelashes on my left eye but I can't tell if anything really splattered into it or if it was from the IV. There were no labs of hep c, HIV,. But she has no history of it and her labs were otherwise normal. I flushed some 0.9NS in my eye about 15 minutes later. Worried about some type of exposure.

First, in direct reply to your question, I see no significant HIV risk in this situation. You say nothing about the patient's background, but if you're in the US or Western Europe, it is exceedingly unlikely a 92 year old woman would have HIV. Second, even if she did, if whatever contacted your eye wasn't blood -- which would have been obvious when you wiped your eye afterward -- there would be little if any risk for HIV or other blood borne infections (hep B and C viruses).

Second and perhaps most important, your institution probably has an infection control team, one of whose main purposes is to evaluate staff infection risk in various situations. You should immediately contact infection control -- usually there would be a nurse on call. Most infection control services are prepared to arrange testing of a patient who is the potential source of infection for staff. When they evaluate this event, you may find that they seek the patient's agreement to be tested for blood borne infections (HIV, HBV, HCV). Given your description of the exposure, this likely won't be necessary. On the other hand, the level of stress and concern expressed by the exposed worker also enters into consideration; even if they agree there is no significant risk, they might arrange for testing the patient in order to assure you there was no risk.

I hope these comments are helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.

HHH, MD