Is disease transmission through a paper cut likely?

I have a quick question about the possibility for HIV/AIDS transmission that I haven't been able to get off of my mind. A few days ago while my school was hosting its annual debate/forensics tournament I was handing out awards and shaking the hands of the individuals who had placed in the top rankings. After having finished the awards I looked down at my hand and I had blood on it. Even more disturbing, the blood was directly on the part of my hand which had sustained a paper cut about 2-3 hours earlier. I have no idea whose blood it was that got onto my hand but now i'm worrying myself sick over the possibility of having contracted some kind of blood-bourne illness, such as HIV/AIDS. My question then is this; what are the chances that I could have contracted some kind of disease? The paper cut wasn't very deep and bled minimally when it was sustained. What should my course of action be? I'm extremely confused and I am fairly worried. Any help would be well appreciated. Thank you.

The possibility is low, however there is still a chance. The best thing for you to do is to call your doctor or go down to your towns free clinic to have a talk with them. They can let you know for sure if there is anything to worry about and can also explain what you can do to help reduce any chance of transmission.

As long as you washed your hand and used antibacterial gel, it is verrrrry unlikely that you contacted any blood-bourne diseases...if you are really concerned, wait six months and get a HIV test done at your doctor's office or clinic to reduce your doubts.

the odds that any of that blood got into your system is low.. the odds of that blood having HIV is even lower.. you would probably literally be the first person on the planet.. in other words you are fine.

Are you sure it wasn't your OWN cut that caused the blood on your hand?

The chances of you getting some kind of disease is extremely minimal. In other words, you did NOT get infected with HIV the other day.

Besides-----are a lot of kids at your school infected with HIV? No, I didn't think so. You are overreacting over nothing. Just make sure you wash your hands and never touch your eyes, nose or mouth without having just washed your hands first.

More than likely the blood was your own from the paper cut which began to bleed again. It would be hard to believe that anyone would be walking around by chance with blood on their hands etc. Also chances are a million to one that the person you would be shaking hands with would have AIDS

I don't think so. The worrying is probably causing you more harm than the incident you describe. With 28 years experience as a chairside dental assistant (before and after gloves) we had extensive education on HIV/Aids. At the same time I put in 22 years as a firefighter and we were trained and educated on this subject also. Try not to worry and if you want to be sure just contact your local health unit or family doctor and there are simple tests they can do for you. Good luck!