Cut mouth

[jcjc13]

Hello Dr.
The other day I was struck in mouth during a scuffle. I suffered a pretty good cut with some blood and she may have cut her hand. She's also a current or former druggy who takes methadone. I'm worried she may have Hiv or Hep c. Is this a scenerio that could cause transmission of either of those. I'm more worried about Hepc because it's easier to transmit. Im really worried there may have been a mix of our blood. Thanks

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Yes, a month would be a good time to tesst. I anticipate that the tests will be negative when and if you do choose to test. EWH

[jcjc13]

Thank you four your answer. If I test for both in about a month it would only be for peace of mind and you would expect them to be negative. I can't stand worrying about things like this. Even the 1% comment you made worry's me. Thanks again  

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome back to our Forum.  The risks of acquiring either infection from the events you describe, while theoretically possible, are close to zero. Factors which influence my response are that you do not know that this person had either HIV or hepatitis C or that she had a cut on her hand. Even if she did, the chance that you could have acquired infection in this way is vanishingly low. There may be case reports in which this sort of exposure led to infection but as a proportion of the total transmissions of such infections, they account for less than 1%.  You may or may not want to test for these infections in about a month for your peace of mind but, in the interim, I certainly would not be worried about risk for either infection.

I hope this comment is helpful.  EWH