HIV infection from a needle prick of a syringe used to an HIV positive patient?

My friend is a nurse and she took care of an HIV positive patient. While she was administering her patient's IV medications, she said she had to aspirate from the patient's IV bottle containing normal saline solution. After aspirating, she accidentally got herself pricked with the syringe she used and her finger bled. She's now terribly worried if she can or will contract HIV through this? Does HIV survive in IV bottles/solution/catheter? Thank You for your help!

If she did not actually prick the patient with the needle before pricking her finger, she should be ok. But as a nurse, she should know that she needs to follow certain protocol when she gets a needle stick in any situation while taking care of a patient. (Usually, that involves reporting the needle stick to the supervisor and beginning testing. She should know the protocol, considering she is taking care of at least one patient who has HIV.)

It may survive in the catheter for a short time, unless the inside of the catheter is exposed to air. The only body fluids that contain HIV are blood, semen, vaginal fluid, or breastmilk. Unless one of those fluids got into the solution or catheter, there would be no risk of HIV transmission. Report Abuse

The chance of getting HIV after needle stick injury from a HIV positive patient is 0.3 percent, so very low, but given how serious the disease is it is taken seriously. Your friend should consult a doctor, most hospitals has procedure for dealing with needle stick injury in their staff. Sometimes if the specialist recommends it, prophylactic treatment is started.