TO start off with I am an inner city teacher. At school one day one of the students had a sore on the top of his hand that had a bit of blood on it. Were not talking oozing, but drops. He asked to get a band-aid and I said to hold on for one second, to which he replied by yelling out what I heard as I've got hiv. I told him to settle down and we got his band-aid. He had apparently had the cut since last night (but for some reasons just thought of the band-aid now?) Anyway, in the morning I had shook this kids hand in a morning pleasantry like I do with all my students, and after he said the hiv thing, I noticed that I had a cut on my index finger of the hand I used to shake with. I am pretty srue this cut was a couple of days old from a can opening accident. Anyway, I know it sounds ridiculous, but are there chances of infection? I don't remember seeing his blood on my hand or anything like that after shaking hands, but I am a big worry-ing kind of person. Oh and I later told the student not to joke around about having hiv as it wasn't a nice thing to do and they replied that they had said they could get hiv and didn't say they had it. Either way I am worried.

Thanks for the response ladies and gents.

I wouldn't be so worried but I do have an enlarged submental lymph node and havehad for the past month (the incident I talked about happened almost 2 months ago) I went to the doctor about the lymph node and he didn't seem concerned about its size.

this sounds like something i would be worried about. Its probably all anxiety, and the experts would probably tell you not to worry, but i'm no expert. I worried that i may have contracted the disease from a coworker i washed dishes with when i was a teenager. The guy tested positive at the time i was working with him, and i do remember always having small cuts and nics on my hands from scrubbing dishes. The health department told me not to worry about it, especially because of the chemicals we used. It still concerns me from time to time.

Gymee those kids were playing with you. Any way you didn't have blood on your hand so you have noting to worry about.That was wrong them joking about it my sister has it.But no blood on your hand no worry, belive me I'm a worry well about hiv even if a drop of blood is on a floor, but this I wouldn't worry about hope this help you all rigth.God Bless You.;) ;) ;)

Gymee those kids were playing with you. Any way you didn't have blood on your hand so you have noting to worry about.That was wrong them joking about it my sister has it.But no blood on your hand no worry, belive me I'm a worry well about hiv even if a drop of blood is on a floor, but this I wouldn't worry about hope this help you all rigth.God Bless You.;) ;) ;)

I can honestly say I don't remember seeing blood on my hand but who knows. At the time I shook his hand in the morning its not like I noticed blood on his hand or I wouldn't have shook it anyway. But how much blood needs to be present? I am assuming the smallest little pinhead right? and I know it's probably just anxiety but like most on this site the anxiety can be tough and sometimes you jsut need to hear from people that you shouldn't worry.

Gymee i understand your concerns, let me tell you what happed to me.One day i was in Wall Mart and i went to the restroom and when i was washing my hands blood got all over my hands from the paper towel rack. A few weeks after this, my sister with hiv was doing my hair and she had blood and pus on hands. I didn't wont to make her feel uncomtable so i didn't say any thing, but i'm sure she got blood in my hair. I freaked out and went to the doctor to get tested and he said this was absord, :angel: and he only tested me for my own peace of mind. One doctor wouldn't even test me he said i was crazy.You have to have a big cut.Peace hope this helps.

alright so I have been alright for awhile, and I am still waiting till the 3 month mark so I can go and get tested (it will be 3 months since the possible exposure on feb. 24th), but now I have a painful ulcer right on the inside of my lip. Naturally I look online and the first thing that comes up is it as a symptom of hiv. I can't recal having an ulcer this bad ever. I mean I still eat and stuff but it is painful. Are ulcers a valid symptom of hiv and should I be worried? I would really appreciate an answer guys. Thank You.

Gymee, those are not symptoms of hiv, and since your still worried, you can take a hiv test now and get your neg results. It will be a good indication of what your neg 3-months test will be. Gymee stop worrying go get a hiv rapid test today. i know are minds play tricks on us, but you had NO RISKS.Keep us updated.I'm giving you this fire, because i know for sure your neg.:blob_fire :blob_fire :blob_fire :blob_fire :blob_fire :blob_fire :blob_fire

I can't recal having an ulcer this bad ever. I mean I still eat and stuff but it is painful. Are ulcers a valid symptom of hiv and should I be worried? .
I used to get a lot of ulcers. I finally came to the conclusion that my painful oral ulcers were a result of terrible anxiety.

Gymee, those are not symptoms of hiv, and since your still worried, you can take a hiv test now and get your neg results. It will be a good indication of what your neg 3-months test will be. Gymee stop worrying go get a hiv rapid test today. i know are minds play tricks on us, but you had NO RISKS.Keep us updated.I'm giving you this fire, because i know for sure your neg.:blob_fire :blob_fire :blob_fire :blob_fire :blob_fire :blob_fire :blob_fire


I don't think there are any rapid tests where I'm from, and I think I would just like to wait it out till the 3 months is up and go once just to put my mind at ease. I know going now wouldn't put it at ease as crazy as that sounds. But thank you for the advice motherlove.

Gymee, you will be O'kay.Peace.:angel: :angel: :angel:

Listen, you do not have it. This is my story. I got a job in a hospital. About a month after I started working there I found out I was pregnant. So ok, I'm with this patient, her IV pump was beeping it had air in the line, I disconnected it and was flushing the line. Well while I was doing that blood backed up into her saline lock. It is a little piece of tubing that connects the patient to the IV line and pump. So I was just going to flush the saline lock with some normal saline to get the blood out. Well as I went to do this the cap came unscrewed. A one in a million chance!:rolleyes: Well blood got all over the tops of my fingers. I hooked her saline lock back together and flushed. Then went and washed my hands. I wasn't too concerned, I didn't know she was HIV positive YET! A few days later I had this patient again. I was looking threw her chart and her HIV results had just come back in they were POSITIVE. I freaked out. Not mention just being infected but that I was pregnant too. The infection control nurse at my hospital told me the chances were slim to none, as well as the my OBGYN. At 3 weeks post exposure I was negative. Then this last time I was 5 months post exposure-negative. So the chances that you have it are pretty much ziltch. Luckily I did not have any cuts on my hands that I knew of but still. If you had a scab over the cut you did have, it would most likely have protected you from any tiny bit of blood that could have gotten into it. Not to mention the virus itself is so fragile if the kids blood was dried the virus would be dead. So really I would not worry to much. This patient that I got blood on me from was already immune deficent that is why I am sure they tested her, so I bet her viral load was out of this world and it was probably at least 1ml of fresh blood on my hands. I would not worry, get the test done at 3 monts post exposure and be done with it. Hope this helps. :)