Personal hepatitis scare - what questions do I ask?

Factual Questions
1

A couple of days ago, I gave first aid to a transient who was bleeding. There were no gloves available, so my hands were covered with his blood by the time the ambulance arrived. I did have a recent cut on the back of my hand which I’m 90% sure was closed at the time. I washed my hands with a bottle of peroxide and then soap within 5 minutes of the ambulance arriving.

Now, since then I have gotten the hepatitis-B and tetanus vaccination shots and have started the 6-month series of tests for HIV and hepatitis, etc. That was two days ago, and my arm is still sore from the shots and no results yet means that I’m still quite a bit scared – especially since my wife is pregnant. And while I’m confident in the individual skills of the workers at this hospital, I am not in its bureauocracy or that of the Texas state health department.

What I want to know is: Do I need to ask for testing of more diseases? What hepatitis-orientated questions should I ask my doctor? Would it be worth it to get a second opinion somewhere else if the results would still be processed through the state?

What questions should I be asking that I haven’t thought of?

The Dun King

2

Have you contacted OSHA? They may be able to give you specific information in connection with testing and the interview process. As the definitive authority, you may consider looking at this site: http://www.cdc.gov/. I hope you come out of this okay.

3

I really think the chances that you contacted hepatitis are quite low. If you were injected with a needle from a known hepatitis victim, the odds of getting hepatitis would be perhaps 1%. The blood was superficial, and the cut was closed. It is the right thing to do to get tested, but keep this in perspective. You should have liver function tests done in addition to serology for HIV and hepatitis A, B and C.

Don’t lose sleep over this now. Some jurisdictions would not recommend testing with your history of exposure.