Here’s my strange story. I was stuck by a discarded insulin needle on the side of the road in rural WV. I pulled over to assist at the scene of a motorcycle accident and luckily everyone was ok. We pulled our bikes over at an overlook area, I was sitting in the gravel BSing with the other riders, put my hand down felt something poke my thumb and saw the needle. It barely poked me and it didn’t bleed right away but those darn things are so sharp. I saw the blood so I grabbed the needle and headed for home. I went to the ER (funny I help out with a motorcycle accident and I end up in the ER) when I got home and had all the tests done including an Elisa test and everything came back negative. My question is what follow up tests do I need and when can my life go back to normal. I’m married with two young children and I want to make sure I don’t pass anything on to my wife or kids. Having said that, I hate using condoms and would really rather not have to continue doing so for 3 months.
My understanding is that my risk is pretty low. The needle looked like it could have been there for a while (It had dirt in it which suggests to me it was there the last time it rained which would be over a week). Is there any way to have the needle tested? Should I get a PCR/DNA test after 14, 28 days? If so, how do I go about setting that up? What about Hep B and C, when are those tests conclusive? How great is the risk of transmitting Hep B, C or HIV to my wife if she performs unprotected oral-sex on me? What precautions should I take until I get my results back?