HealthCareMagic is now Ask A Doctor - 24x7 | https://www.askadoctor24x7.com

Can HIV Be Contracted Through A Prick Wound From An Infected Pin?

Posted on Wed, 21 Oct 2015

Question: I got deeply pricked by a stapler pin and drew blood and came to know that an office boy of ours had also been pricked by the same pin (attached on a newspaper) a few moments before. will I get HIV if he is HIV+??

Answered by Dr. Sankaranantham Murugan (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Prick happened immediately after office boy's prick,isa remote possibility

Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Welcome to HCM
Thanks for posting your query.

Pricking by stapler pin for two people at the same time is quite unusual. HIV can not be viable outside the body fluid for not more than few seconds.Drying will kill the virus. So transmission in this way is a remote possibility. If your office boy is HIV positive (rare possibility) and the prick had happened immediately or subsequent to the prick you got, then there is a chance for the transmission of HIV. That too, is practically a rare possibility only.
Dr S.Murugan

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Sankaranantham Murugan (27 minutes later)

There was a time gap of a few minutes after he got pricked, is there is a possibility of some blood being retained on the pin and that leading to a transmission after I got pricked with the same needle after a few minutes.

Answered by Dr. Sankaranantham Murugan (6 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Hiv transmission is not possible in this way.

Detailed Answer:
HI,
Welcome back.
If there was some time gap between the two pricks as of few minutes, it is not at all possible for the transmission of an infection in this way as HIV can not survive for minutes, even if the blood had been retained in the stapler pin.
Dr S.Murugan

Note: Get personalized answers to your HIV related queries You can choose to talk face to face with your doctor. Book a Video Call now.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar