I am a resident working in a blood bank. I was manually washing an HIV ELISA microplate 3 weeks ago (first wash). I hit the microplate against absorbent paper when i felt a drop of wash buffer enter my eye. We use 4 positive controls in our microplates, while 3 kit-provided controls are deactivated (sod azide), our fourth in-house control wasnt. i washed my eye for about a minute with tap water, but not gently as my eye was congested later.Im hoping i didnt damage the conjunctiva. I havent taken PEP or local disinfectent. my baseline HIV was negative,im so frightened now im scared to get another test! have i asked for trouble with the vigorous wash?.

Hi,

Your HIV-acquisition risk is extremely minimal to negligible. Did you report the incident? All health care facilities and health care training programs have policies and procedures in place to evaluate and manage occupational exposures to HIV and other bloodborne pathogens. All residents should be familiar with these services! PEP was not indicated for your potential exposure. Routine follow-up with HIV-antibody testing is all that's recommended: testing immediately and at six weeks, three months and six months). You can download a copy of the guidelines for evaluating and treating occupational HIV exposures at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5409a1.htm.

Good luck.

Dr. Bob