UNDERSTANDING TESTS FOR HIV: WHO SHOULD GET TESTED-PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO THE BLOOD OF ANOTHER PERSON

The most common way to be exposed to the blood of another person is through a “needlestick injury”: a health care worker obtaining a blood sample is accidentally injured by the needle used to obtain the person’s blood. The risk of transmission of HIV, even when the person is infected, is not great: about one chance in 250. Nevertheless, health care workers are understandably anxious. Health care workers can also transmit HIV to patients. Transmission is only possible with invasive procedures like dental work or surgery.
Because the blood test is for antibodies, and antibodies will appear only after several weeks, blood must be tested for three to six months after the exposure before it is certain that infection did not take place. During this interval, those who have been exposed must avoid behaviors that transmit the virus, and in particular must practice safer sex.
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