 | ||
   | ||
Email
Glossary |
|
Worried Nurse Sep 22, 2004 I'm a nurse specializing in wound care and I recently sustained a cut from shears contaminated with dried blood. The blood was about 5 or 6 hours old and was completely dry as far as I could tell. My supervisor didn't seem concerned. How long will hiv live in blood outside the body. Once the blood is dry, it is non-viable? Thank you. |
||||||||
 |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
 |
| Response from Ms. Breuer
 Dried blood poses no risk of HIV infection. HIV exposed to oxygen dries up in seconds. There is, however, potential risk of hepatitis B or C. If I were you, I'd ask an infectious disease doc about follow-up for those conditions, especially since the accident occurred at work. Have you reported it yet? If not, please do, and talk with your supervisor about follow-up for the exposure. But you can let go of any fear of HIV. | ||||||||
 Get Email Notifications When This Forum Updates or Subscribe With RSS
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Q&A TERMS OF USE
This forum is designed for educational purposes only, and experts are not rendering medical, mental health, legal or other professional advice or services. If you have or suspect you may have a medical, mental health, legal or other problem that requires advice, consult your own caregiver, attorney or other qualified professional.
Experts appearing on this page are independent and are solely responsible for editing and fact-checking their material. Neither TheBody.com nor any advertiser is the publisher or speaker of posted visitors' questions or the experts' material.
Review our complete terms of use and copyright notice.
