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1200653 tn?1281586215

Hand Sanitizer with blood

I used hand sanitizer to wipe up a few spots of blood of the counter at work yesterday, there was a small cut on the other side of my hand from where I was cleaning up the blood and I didn't notice it till I was rubbing on more hand sanitizer and it burned the wound due to the alcohol. The wound is kind a small cut that was broken because of dry skin. The wound isn't deep enough to cause bleeding so it wasn't my blood.

I used a piece of paper, that we use for wrapping glasses and what not, and the paper was soaked with hand sanitizer after I was wiped up the blood.

Is there a possible chance of me actually getting a disease from this even though I used anti-bacterial items on it and not directly contacting my hands with the blood? Like I said the wound is not on the finger tips, just on the other side of it.

I had no idea how long the blood was on the counter, nor did I clean this off a person so it wasn't "new"/fresh blood. HIV is very sensitive I guess from what I heard from my sister (recently a pharmacist who dealt with a lot of blood)

I know that HIV barely lasts minutes after hitting oxygen so I'm not really worried too much about that one. The blood had already began to dry and it wasn't large amounts, the kind of streaks on counters as though the hand was just brushing against the counter, not like a pool of blood.

I have spoken to a nurse about this and the chances she said were minimal, basically a slim to none chance. I just want to hear the opinions of others to see if I can put myself at ease.

Also, I did not have any blood on my hands at all. I wiped down the countertop with the piece of paper before and then threw away the paper. I don't remember having any contact with the piece of paper after it cleaned off the blood nor did I see red on the paper after I wiped down the blood with the hand sanitizer. I noticed the small cut (smallest cut ever literally it had not bled and the skin above it was still attached. I just noticed a stinging pain after I reapplied hand sanitizer)

Am I safe?

It was some customer's blood. I had no idea where it came from or what customer had been bleeding. I just randomly saw it while I was helping a customer and then when that customer left another customer came. I took care of it after that customer left so it could have been anyone's blood.

would the blood be infectionous had it touched me with the piece of paper? The piece of paper wiped on the countertop after I dumped hand sanitizer on it. After I wiped down the counter, no blood smeared and it dried within a minute or so. I don't remember touching the wet paper to the back of my hand where the cut is. My paranoid hysteria (yeah I'm using that word) is tricking me with these "what if" questions. I don't think I would wipe my hand with the paper. I definitely didn't touch the blood before I wiped down the counter with the hand sanitizer. So the blood didn't directly touch my hand before I wiped down the counter.

Did the alcohol from the sanitizer kill anything?
4 Responses
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150689 tn?1333990045
Teak is one the experts in this forum and his knowledge on the subject of HIV and HIV infection is first rate. There is nothing I have read in your post which would give me cause to contradict anything that Teak has already told you.

You were never at risk from the episode you have posted. Period. End of story.
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Avatar universal
My reply explains it. End of discussion.
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1200653 tn?1281586215
So even if it's been on a table for a minute or less, it won't effect me in anyway? I had people saying I was "higher" risk because of a small cut from dry skin. Did the sanitizer have any effect on it?
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Avatar universal
HIV is unable to reproduce outside its living host (unlike many bacteria or fungi, which may do so under suitable conditions), except under laboratory conditions, therefore, it does not spread or maintain infectiousness outside its host.
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