Forums > Social Discussion > How I almost got HIV

So I have a patient on my service who is a 15-year-old girl who was infected with HIV at birth. She is now in end-stage AIDS. Her strain of HIV is resistant to multiple drugs. She's on a relatively new drug called T20 or FUZEON which is a fusion inhibitor. And she's slowly dying.

The other night I was doing a blood draw on her and when I pulled the needle out of her vein, I dropped it and it bumped, sharp end first, into my thumb. At this point, my testicles promptly shrivled up and retracted into my abdominal cavity.

So I calmly walked out of the room and took off the glove. I inspected my thumb. I had never felt a poke and, thankfully, there was no break at all in the skin.

I then dumped some water into the glove and it didn't leak.

The risk of contracting HIV from a needle stick is 0.3%, so the risk is tiny (less than 1:300) but even still, I came face-to-face with my own mortality in a way I never imagined that night.

Simple prophylaxis (usually after a needle stick you go on AZT and a protease inhibitor for a month) wouldn't have done because the patient's virus was resistant to that. Had that incident led to an infection, I would be a goner.

Instead, I'm spared.

And today is another day that I am thankful for my health and my life.

Be well. And be thankful.

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



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