Dear Nancy,

Thank you for answering my question. I work at restaurant and I work with cutting salad stuff; such as cucumbers and carots. My colleague one time cut his finger with the knife and I try to remove the knife and I cut my finger with the knife which he cut himself. Oh my god,is this risk of HIv? It was like within 10 seconds I cut mine with the knife he cut his finger.

When I worked for the Red Cross, one of the first things I learned about first aid was the importance of preventing yourself from becoming another victim in the process. It was great training, and makes me take action against my first instincts sometimes: secure the situation first, then take action. Securing the situation in a knife accident means putting on gloves. It takes just seconds.

You acted out of concern and kindness. It's highly unlikely that there could have been enough blood on the knife to transmit HIV, especially with the time lag. But there is a small risk of hepatitis B. I encourage you to be vaccinated against hep B if you haven't already had the shots, since you work around knives. If you were exposed, having the vaccination later still helps.