Possible blood on fork?

[lana8900]

I was at a birthday party and was handed a fork by someone who grabbed it by the prongs (the part that goes in your mouth) I didn't think anything of it at the time. After I was done eating, I noticed she handed the host her plate to throw away and quickly dropped two blood glucose testing strips on it.

So, she's diabetic and seems to not be careful with her bloody objects. I'm concerned that she pricked her finger to test before handing out forks and therefore my fork that I was eating with had traces of her blood on it. She is an older lady so her age is a risk factor for Hep C in itself.

I didn't have any sores or cuts in my mouth but I did brush my teeth an hour prior and part of my gums bled pretty bad. I also chew the skin off of my lips and they sometimes bleed. And the mouth is a mucous membrane, right?

Is there any risk of contracting Hep C is this situation?

[Lynn K]

No

If she has he c and stabbed herself with the fork deeply enough to draw blood and then turned around and stabbed you deeply enough to draw blood you would have a small risk.

For example if a medical worker should experience an accidental needle stick involving a patient with known hep c their odds would only be about 1.8%