HIV from a Paper cut? Please read Dr?

[lookingupwards]

I was at an office in town with my mother & she went into a room to get some papers for me while I waited in reception. She came back with papers & said a man went into a different office to where she was to get the papers from someone else & the papers needed to be signed by 3 different people. 3 different people handled the sheets of paper that she didn’t see as she was in a different room& there were another two men who handled the papers in front of her So a total of 6 different people handled these sheets of papers including her, 3 people she didn’t see but the 3 new signatures were proof there were definitely 3 other people who handled the papers. Well I got a paper cut while my mother was handing me the papers, 5 seconds from those 2 men handling the papers, 1 minute from the other 3 people, plus probably more people handling the papers too

I don’t know if she or anyone got a paper cut or if there was any blood on the papers already & I can’t check as I threw the papers away right after I got the paper cut & didn’t ask my mother as she knows I have a fear of blood and she wouldn’t tell me anyhow. My minds been racing thinking “what if my mother or one of those 5 people also got a paper cut & blood went on the paper, then when I got the paper cut it had been in the same place on the paper they might have got a paper cut & their blood then went into me via my paper cut?” “or maybe my mother or one of those 5 people or someone else already had a cut &/or got blood via some other way on the papers then that blood got into me via my paper cut”. I don’t know the HIV status of any of the people who handled the papers including my mother & I didn’t personally see anyone handling the papers other than my Mother as I wasn’t in the same room but know 6 people did. I didn’t see my mother get a paper cut but she did have some cuts on her hands.  There was between 1 – 8 sheets of paper

Dr do I need to test for HIV from this event? Was I at risk of HIV from this event?

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Welcome to the forum.  Sometimes the question title has enough information to allow an accurate response.  In my most creative thinking, I cannot imagine a scenario in which a paper cut could result in HIV transmission.  The paper would first have to cut an HIV infected person and then a second person.  However, the blood from the first injury would necessarily soften the paper so it would be incapable of cutting the next person.  But now I'll go ahead and read your question and see where it leads.

Now I have done that.  Guess what?

First, the above considerations still apply.  Since blood is no longer infectious once it has dried, and paper moist with blood couldn't cut anyone, there is obviously no risk.  Second, it seems very unlikely any of the previous paper users had HIV.

Accordingly, you clearly are not at risk and do not need HIV testing.

Best regards--  HHH, MD

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Three months is plenty; indeed, with modern tests in day-to-day use, the results are virtually 100% reliable at 6-8 weeks:     http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/1347755

The article you site a) is 6 years old, b) pertains to testing after post-exposure prophylaxis, which might delay development of HIV antibody if PEP doesn't work, and c) may reflect CDC's legal conservatism.

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Thanks so much for your help Dr,

If you don’t mind I also wanted to ask you that I took an HIV blood test at 3 months since the date of an incident that happened to me. I had an occupational exposure when I was standing about an inch from a man who cut his finger at work and the second he cut his finger he flung his finger up to my face and blood from his finger that he just cut went into my eyes which I know for a fact it went into my eyes. His blood also went all over my face. I didn’t know the HIV status of the man but know he was a Black man from  Gambia  in Africa.

My questions are,

1) I took an HIV blood test 3 months since his blood went into my eyes and it was negative, is that test conclusive and proof I did not catch HIV from his blood going into my eyes? and I don’t need to be tested again?

2) When does the CDC say to test for HIV from the point of blood going into your eyes from someone who’s HIV status you do not know but is from a country with a high rate of HIV? I was looking at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5409a1.htm
and under Postexposure Testing it says enzyme immunoassay testing should be done up too 6 months after occupational HIV exposure. (Please delete the link if this is not allowed)

Thanks again Dr for your help.