lab sciences/HIV

[unsure_scientist]

Dear Dr. HHH,
I apologize for the long message and please excuse the fact that this isn't a question that involves sexual transmission. Based on your other answers, I feel as if you are the best person to ask in this situation.

I am a graduate student working in a malaria lab.  I work with P. falciparum so I work with human blood on a frequent basis.  The blood we get is supposed to be screened and certified clean and free of virus, but I can't help to think about the "window period" associated with HIV and whether or not the person donating could actually be positive upon donation and not know it.  The reason for my concern is because 2 weeks ago, I made a blood smear on a glass slide to check % parasitemia of my culture.  This involves making a smear with a few microliters of blood and letting it air dry for a minute or two, then fixing the slide in 100% methanol for a couple minutes before staining with Giemsa stain.  I then kept the same gloves on and proceeded with my work.  Here is where my issue is. After the slide staining, I was back to work and I needed to use a glass pipette for the rest of my experiment. At this point, I broke a sterile unused glass pipette in my hand and later found a few holes in the glove.  I don't remember hitting the area where the holes were and did not see any visible cuts or abrasions but I can't definitively say there weren't any.  The gloves I had on, were the same I used in staining and had methanol on them that touched and was possibly contaminated with the blood from the smear on the slide. Now that I have told you my situation, I will ask you my questions.

1) Is it possible I could have infected myself with HIV with the clean broken glass because of the unchanged/possibly dirty gloves? (If the donor was indeed actually positive and just had not seroconverted at time of donation)
2)I know that alcohol should inactivate HIV based on another one of your posts, but does 100% methanol have the same effect as isopropanol that is used in sterilization in health settings?  Is a couple minutes long enough to inactivate HIV? I can't seem to find much info on this.
3)The blood that I used was approx. 2 weeks old and had sat at room temp for a few days after being refrigerated for a couple.  How long would HIV even last in a centrifuge tube of blood once outside the body (25ml)?  
4)Does HIV truly become inactivated if dried on a slide after a couple minutes as I have read on websites?
Sorry for the length of the message but I am truly fearful in this situation.  Do I have anything to worry about?

I have spoke with several others on this situation but I think I need to hear what a person with your experience and knowledge has to say.  I was truly impressed with your CV summary.  Thank you so much for your time and help in this matter. I am seriously concerned.
PS- my parasites were not alive so I am not concerned about malaria.

[PAZIG]

I'm pretty sure, they do a pcr test on the blood along with elsa, Obv. asking questions of the donor on when the last time he/she might have been exposed

[VicRattlehead]

I was also thinking of the same thing as you earlier today about the possibility of blood donors being HIV positive because of the window period.Maybe they test using both Elisa and Western Blot?? I dont know..but food for thought.

As far as I know HIV is a fragile virus and it doesnt last long outside in normal room temperature. How long? that I dont remember...