I Work At A Hotel And Have To Handle Cash

Posted on Fri, 5 Jul 2019

Question: I work at a hotel and have to handle cash on a regular basis. I came into contact with two $20 bills that had some suspicious red droplets on them. In the event that it was indeed blood, I imagine much time had passed and it was dried. My hands are mostly intact but one of my fingers has a healed cut from a finger prick administered all of 10-12 hours ago (for an HIV/HCV test--both of which came back negative).

I'm more concerned with a potential exposure to HCV than HIV. I have pictures of the bills.

Follow up: Dr. Dr. Monika Dede (5 minutes later)

The pictures of the dollar bills are on my profile reports. Please do have a look at them to see if my concerns are legitimate in the first place/whether they suggest the presence of dried blood and whether or not I should seek help.

Thank you!

Answered by Dr. Dr. Monika Dede (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
In this situation exist a little risk to get HCV.

Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome in"Ask a Doctor".
I have reviewed your query and here is my advice.

I have seen carefully the pictures and I understand your concern because these sign could be blood.

But you should know that in this situation exist a little risk to get HCV and no risk to get HIV because HIV cannot live outside the body just few minutes.
Furthermore, you should know as well that hepatitis C virus can survive outside of the body for up to 3 weeks and having a healed cut you shouldn't worry because there exist a little risk to have a direct contact with the infected dried blood.

Hope I have answered your query.
Feel free to ask me further.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Nagamani Ng