Monday, September 1, 2008

HIV/AIDS Infection when pricked by dental sharp instrument

HIV/AIDS Infection when pricked by dental sharp instrument?
I started shadowing at a dentist. When collecting used instruments, I accidentally got pricked by a sharp instrument. I was wearing gloves. The patient was a gay, white male who had bled during the procedure. I read many articles that HIV/AIDS is common among this specific community. His partner had passed away recently for reasons that I'm not sure of. What are the chances that I may contract HIV from this patient?
STDs - 3 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
the virus would have died within a few minutes.
2 :
I don't want to cause hysteria but if you got stabbed by anything with blood on it you should be VERY concerned. Even if HIV can only survive minutes outside the body, thats still probably long enough to get infected. There is also a whole list of of other viruses he could possibly have. Without getting too paranoid about it I would just wait to see if you get sick and then go to a doctor and see what s/he would recommend getting tested for. Thats all you can really do
3 :
First of all, HIV is NOT "common" in the gay community. That is an old stereotype. The vast majority of gay people are HIV negative. Second, HIV is an incredibly fragile virus and cannot survive long outside the host. Any virus in blood on the instrument would be dead within seconds of exposure to air. If you were wearing gloves, they protected you. Even if you had not been wearing gloves, the potential virus would have been dead anyway. You have zero risk of HIV infection from this exposure.

Read more discussions :