What Are The Chances Of HIV Transmission Through Needle Prick Injury?

Posted on Sun, 17 Jan 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 17 Jan 2016 Answered on

Thu, 18 Feb 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : I need real/honest advise immediately....
I did a hiv antibody test with Clearview ie Rapid Complete HIV 1/2 antibody test with finger prick for my 10 week of my first incident which came negative. The nurse open the kit and kept ready before I entered ,she opened safety lancet and prick me for testing. After coming back home I was thinking whether the lancet was reused , do you think the lancet available in USA can be re used more then once on people? Is there a chance of HIV transmission on this episode? it sounds some information and answers it is never a RISK

I went back to Planned Parenthood yesterday clinic to find out they said would never risk and told they dispose immediately after the first use. I am really worried and concern and having some anxiety ,also I am in 10th week of the first incident I reported on this forum.

I did this test on Friday 01/15/2016 11:30AM EST. Please provide honest advise should I go for PreP immediately now or should I forget this and move on and wait for 13 week test

Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (19 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
no way it was reused

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

just forget about it. There is no chance that the lancet was reused. And even if it was, the chances would still be very low. I can't say how low because various factors may come into play, like how deep was the wound, if there was visible blood on it, how long ago it was used, etc, so the risk may differ but it is still low. Anyway I just analyzed it for the shake of this discussion. No chance the lancet was reused!

Kind regards!

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (20 minutes later)

Thanks doctor that gives some relief. So there is no need to worry and move on without medication help immediately? Assuming planned parenthood nurses are experienced/educated in this fields to do the HIV testing carefully and dispose immediately any lancets after use. If accidently some are reused again what are the chances of getting hiv transmitted?. Did any of the cases happened recently I heard hiv are fragile once they are out

May be I am thinking too much on this because of anxiety causing freaking out

Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (24 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
significantly less than 1%

Detailed Answer:
You're welcome!

First of all, remember that there is a lancet for every testing kit, which means that there is absolutely no reason for the nurse to use the same kit. Actually if she used the same lancet she would get into danger too (to injure herself with a potentially infected kit).

Even if the same lancet was used the risk is too low. Imagine that in IV drug users, using the same needle confers a risk of approximately 0.67% per incident. The needle injury is the most risky one because there is always a quantity of blood in it, so if a person is infected the virus may enter a new host. This means that being injured by a lancet (which normally has no visible blood on it and causes a less deep injury than the needle which enters the vein) should confer a much lower risk, although it couldn't be estimated accurately.

Kind Regards!

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (7 minutes later)

Thanks Doctor. Appreciate your findings and reply back

Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (26 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
You're welcome

Detailed Answer:
You're welcome!

I hope I've helped to ease your mind!

Kind Regards!

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar