Accidental needle jab??

FrinkDink

Hi,
Last night I went out to our outside water shutoff valve just outside the front gate to shut off the water supply into the house, as we needed to test for pipe leakage inside the house. Anyway, like an idiot, I put my hand down the small hole for a second to locate the valve... I quickly realised that there could be anything down there! I can't believe I was so foolish.

Anyway, I went back into the house to wash my hands and noticed on the bottom of my hand two tiny bumps with no blood, but when I washed my hands it seemed to be secreting a grease-like substance which took a good few seconds to rinse off. Very soon after, the bumps totally disappeared. There are a lot of insects down there, but I can't really see, even in daylight now. I'm terrified I might have been pricked by a discarded drug users needle, which could be carrying any sort of disease. I don't live in the city centre, so I'm just praying that nobody has, over the years, placed a needle down there.

Does anyone know the sort of hole I'm talking about? Please offer help/advice.... I might have to get a blood test, but am just praying it was an ant bite or something.

humanji

See a doctor if you're worried. It might be nothing, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Dudess

Hey FrinkDink,

Well I don't know anything about water supplies, but what you did doesn't sound stupid to me - if you needed to locate the valve, you needed to locate the valve. As for those "bump" things, did you actually feel something pricking your hand? I'd say it could have been a number of things - highly unlikely it was a needle. Some insect bites can be weird-looking all right. Maybe there were some parasites down there that gave you a minor infection.
You poor thing - you seem terribly worried. But the more you worry and build it up in your head, the worse you'll feel.
This is not a medical forum so you won't get any advice on that side of things. I think you should go to your GP asap - for a chat, a blood test and a tetanus. Not because I think it sounds serious, but to put your mind at ease. Best of luck. I've a strong feeling you'll be absolutely fine.

Davidth88

This may sound stupid, and you may have already done it......

Get a torch and shine it down there.

I would have thought you would have to be amazingly unlucky to hit a needle.

monkeyfudge

I believe most diseases don't live for very long once outside of an organism. Infection from needles usually only comes from direct needle sharing.

But you should still get it check out... as it could be any number of things.

jester77

There is the possibility of picking up weirs disease from a nick like that if the hole was contaminated. Get a blood check done straight away.

PeakOutput

monkeyfudge wrote:

I believe most diseases don't live for very long once outside of an organism. Infection from needles usually only comes from direct needle sharing.

But you should still get it check out... as it could be any number of things.

defienetely go to the doctor if you really think you got pricked but the above is true as far as i know hiv and hep can only survive for two mins outside a body

FrinkDink

Thanks for the replies, yeah I was thinking I would certainly have to be rather unlucky to have been hit by a needle... but I'm one of those types that always fears the worst when it comes to my health, no matter what. With that said, I've been incredibly lucky with my health... but I think my skewed mentality means that I reckon it's just there to be ruined!

My mother freaked out when I mentioned it to her, she used to be a nurse... and started berating me! Living at home at 23 is quite the beeatch, gonna have to escape her completely for a few days now... So it was then that I began really asking questions about this. Oh yeah, I shone a torch there earlier, but it has such a weak light I'll have to pop out and get a new one. I just keep thinking if I see a needle down there its doomsday, and my life has been for nothing. I'm quite sane when it comes to anything but needles and transmittable disease... honest!

humanji

You still haven't said if you're going to see a doctor. Even if it's just a prick from some metal down there, you could lose your finger if you don't get it looked at!

LegacyUser

'go see a doctor, you may need a Tetanus jab!'

bombidol

yeah, unless the needle was placed there about 5 minutes before you pricked it you are most likely grand. You'd feel a needle too, trust me.
Most likely glass or something really sharp.

Michael Collins

You're worrying over nothing. Like bombidol says, you'd feel a needle. And like other people have said, anything like AIDs or hepatitis would most certainly be a very dead virus at this stage.

At the same time if you are one of these people (and there are a good few around) who won't stop worring about this, go get a few blood tests. Just to put your mind at ease. That's the only reason I'd suggest it.

Dudess

jester77 wrote:

There is the possibility of picking up weirs disease from a nick like that if the hole was contaminated. Get a blood check done straight away.

Oh yeah, hadn't thought of that. Weil's disease is a serious condition but it seems like the OP did wash his hands very thoroughly. A visit to the GP definitely, methinks - more for peace of mind than anything else.

BaZmO*

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that you might be slightly over reacting. I think you're watching too much tv.

TheDriver

Forget about it, the 0.000000000000000000000000000001% chance there was anything down there in the first place is well dead by now, viruses don't live long at all at all.

humanji

TheDriver wrote:

Forget about it, the 0.000000000000000000000000000001% chance there was anything down there in the first place is well dead by now, viruses don't live long at all at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetnis

zoemax

Hi FrinkDrink,

there has been some incorrect information posted on this thread regarding the ability of virsuses to survive outside of the human body!

If this is a needlestick injury there are a number of diseases that you need to consider. HIV - Dies fairly quickly if in dry blood but in the right conditions can survive for days outside of the body. HepB can survive for weeks in dry blood. CMVG can survivie for a long time outside of the body if the conditions are right. If you think this was a needlestick injury then see a doctor immediately. You may need to go on a course of antibiotics and will certainly need a tetaus shot if you have not had one in a while. Based on my experience the chances that you have picked something up if this was a needlestick injury are extremely low given the environment in whihch the injury occured and the type of injury sustained. Even if pricked by a needle which is positive for HIV or HepB the chances of becoming infected are approx. 1 in 30and 1 in 300 respectively.

The fact that you had two white marks would indicate to me that this is probably an insect bite. Many insects and spiders can bite quite deeply if they want. It could have been a rodent but I would imagine that you would have felt this type of bite more deeply. I would still reccomend a visit to your GP and a tetanus. You generally can't get Weills disease from a rat bite. You need to come into contact with infected rat urine to get Weills disease.

I would try not to worry too much.

Dudess

BaZmO* wrote:

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that you might be slightly over reacting. I think you're watching too much tv.

More than likely, but the fact that the OP had a mark on their hand suggests that something happened.

matt-dublin

as far as i know hiv, hepititus and aids virus' can only survive outside the human body and unincubated for several hours.

My suggestion would be to shine a torch down there immediatly to find out what was down there.

If it was a needle prick, the needle would still be stuck in your skin when you took it out otherwise you would have felt it enter/exit.

To be on the safeside i would go down to your doctor and get a blood test done, and wouldn't hurt to get a tetnus and hepititus a immunisation