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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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HIV Transmission From Cat Scratch Hello. I Had A Recent

HIV Transmission from Cat Scratch

Hello. I had a recent encounter on Wednesday (9/7/15) with an HIV positive friend of mine and a cat. The cat scratched him and did not draw any sort of blood initially. He had to squeeze the scrape for any blood to appear, which was a minor amount anyways. Then 3-4 minutes later, the cat came over and scratched me. It was a pin prick that barely turned red from blood. His viral load is pretty low... undetectable is the term I think. However, on his drug regimen of Truvada and Isentress, he had been off of his Isentress for 3-4 days prior due to prescription refill issues. He was still on the Truvada though at the time of the incident. I don't know if that can cause an undetectable viral load to spike to 50,000 copies or more suddenly or not.... Anyways, I rushed to the ER afterwards in a panic and got on PEP (Truvada and Isentress for 28 days). I got the drugs into my body within 2 hours. What are my risks like for an exposure like this? I also want to add that I checked with a veterinary clinic on the structure of a cat claw... They said it is isn't hollow like a needle. It is solid and likely won't hold bodily fluids. In addition, there there is no way to determine if the same claw scratched him that scratched me. Symptoms: None.... Only fatigue, diarrhea, and stomach acidity from PEP (Truvada and Isentress)
Sat, 17 Oct 2015
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HIV Transmission From Cat Scratch Hello. I Had A Recent