Is it dangerous?

[chinchilly]

Today I bumped up against a guy who had an open cut on his arm. I got a little bit of his blood on me and didn't take it seriously at first and so I didn't wash my hands before I ate. I touched my arm where the blood had been and also put my hands in my mouth and my eyes and other places. I realized later I have a lot of open cuts on my hands right now from dry skin and I literally could have put myself at risk for HIV or any other blood-borne diseases. Am I correct in believing it could be transmitted in this way?

[Heather]

It's perhaps obvious, but handwashing before eating should always be a given, not a maybe. Our hands carry so many germs on them that even with nothing of any import afoot, we're always taking health risks if we don't eat with clean hands. Same goes for washing your hands before you are putting fingers in your eyes. As well, if you have open cuts on your hands (that shouldn't happen just with dry skin), then you always want to cover them when you're out with bandages.

That said, if you had direct contact with someone's blood -- you said you bumped up against this person: with that? And were they literally bleeding at the time? -- and did not wash that blood off of wherever you had contact with it, then yes, there are health concerns. However, picking up bloodborne infections like HIV without that blood going right into an open wound of your own, or having had that contact with something, directly, like your mouth or eyes or genitals, isn't very likely. But if you do have concerns about this and there was direct contact with someone else's blood, then your best bet is to talk with your healthcare provider.

[Heather]

dpaddict/chinchilly (and I believe you have at least one more handle you've used here): I'm closing both of these accounts because, as the registration agreement you agreed to for the boards makes clear, having more than one account here isn't acceptable. It also isn't okay to engage in any kind of intentional fraud here, which certainly includes making new accounts because we've set limits with you with your previous ones.

I absolutely understand that OCD is very tough to live with and learn to manage: however, as I told you with your other account just this week, the right person to take these issues to is your new counselor. We cannot provide mental healthcare here, and it's not okay to try and get around that limit.