Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date. Last year, my daughter cut her finger while playing. Blood was oozing out. One of her friends mother's held her finger tightly and squeezed it several times for over five minutes to stop blood flow. I did not see any visible cuts on that lady's fingers. If she were HIV positive what are the chances of my daughter getting anything if there were rashes on her fingers? She is a high risk lady. Please reply, I do not sleep at night thinking about this.
Mark H. Katz, M.D.
Regional HIV/AIDS Physician Coordinator
Kaiser Permanente of Southern California
It sounds like the situation was pretty low risk, lower risk than if your daughter had been left to bleed, of course! Unbroken skin is 100% effective in not transmitting the virus. But if someone were to have an opening in their skin, the chance of getting the virus from someone else (if that other person were HIV+ and their blood spurted onto the broken skin) is considered to be in the range of 1 in 300. But the chance of this going in reverse is not known, but most everyone would agree it would be much, much lower yet.
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