Doc, I thought I would get your attention with a good Godfather quote. I am stressed due to a mistake I made. I was getting a hummer from a girl for hire when I fingered her for about a minute. I bite my nails and had a cut cuticle. Not bleeding at the time but a cople hours old. I (as you can tell by my Godfather refence) checked the archives butget conflicting theories. what is my approx risk? I am taking combivir for 3 days and am not tolerating it well. Does this contact warrant pep? Would my risk be approx that of insertive vaginal ot as bad as needle stick? I have in the past donated to the foundation via credit card and will again. Kindly respond as I amy "take the gun and leave the cannoli's" indead of the other way around.

Hello Godfather-Guy,

Relax! You (unlike Luca Brasi) will not "sleep with the fishes" as a consequence of your actions.

Actually, I would not have recommended PEP for this level of potential risk. Rather, I would have suggested you get a single rapid HIV test at the three-month mark and stop biting your nails! Your HIV-acquisition risk is every low at best.

Thanks for your donation to the Robert James Frascino AIDS Foundation. Now go eat a cannoli and stop all this needless worry.

Dr. Bob