Worry from past

[Sarahstn]

So this happened several years ago, but I just found this forum and am curious on opinions. My daughter had a mole removed at the hospital, under anesthesia because she was young. After she woke up from the surgery, the nurse came to check her stitches/wound and didn’t sanitize her hands upon entering the room because the sanitizer was missing/empty in our room. Immediately prior she was in a room with an elderly man that had blood all over his hospital gown and she was helping him move across the room. Now I have no idea if she sanitized before coming to us, just know she didn’t do it in front of us, so of course I’m assuming the worst. She removed the bandage from my daughter’s incision and even touched the incision while explaining some things to me. She didn’t have gloves on. Is this a concern for hepatitis infection if she hadn’t sanitized? When I talked to her doctor about it later, he didn’t seem overly concerned and said to watch for signs of infection of the wound. The wound didn’t become infected. She’s led a healthy life since. But this thought sometimes haunts me. Should I let it go or bring it up to her current doctor?

[Lynn K]

Humm a medical person is to sanitize between patients as standard practice for many years ever since HIV came on the screen back in the 1970’s not doing so would be a violation of standard medical protocol.

Hep c is difficult to contract hep c infected blood must enter the blood stream of an uninfected person. It is highly unlikely there was any risk in this situation. But if you have concerns it is a simple matter to have hep c antibody testing done then you will know there was nothing to worry about and put this behind you.