Possible concern... anxiety

[Worried252]

Today I was helping with some work around the house with a friend of mine. There was a jab saw that we were using to cut drywall. He nipped his finger with it, but said he didn't bleed. An hour or two later, it cut me slightly, the cut is/was so small that I can't even see where it happened now. Let's say he did cut himself and it did bleed, would I be at risk since I was cut by the blade? The tiniest amount of blood came out. Again, now I can't even see where I was cut

[Lynn K]

If he did cut himself and he bleed on the blade and if you cut yourself with the same blade and the biggest IF HE HAS HEP C then yes the risk would be similar to the risk of a health care worker who experiences an accidental needle stick involving a patient with known hep c. The risk in that situation is only about 1.8%

However, if he does not have hep c your risk is zero. So you could ask him if he has hep c or any other blood borne viral infections. Just to add only about 1% of the population actually has hep c so without inquiring with him about his status your odds in general are about 1.8% of 1% or about 0.0018%.

People who have blood borne viral infections like hep c try to be very careful if they get a bleeding cut at work I know I was that way.

So if you are unwilling to ask your coworker about his status then to have 100% confidence in your test results wait 6 months and get the HCV antibody test. Hep c is not a medical emergency. If concerned get tested at 6 months and if you test positive get further confirmatory testing to see if you are actively infected. If you are infected simply get treated and cured but either way you have nothing to worry about.

But my personal belief is you are very likely not infected.