Does the likelihood of exposure merit action in this case?

June 12, 2012 12:09 PM

Is there sufficient likelihood of STD exposure in this oddball circumstance to merit arrangements for testing and medication?

This weekend I went to the hair salon. I needed to use the restroom, which was unisex. I sat down without fully inspecting the seat. When I stood back up, I noticed there was blood on the front inside rim of the seat. This blood also had spread to the bottom edge of the seat. The blood was not dried and was not mine. I examined myself and noticed a small amount of blood on the tip of my penis. I am circumcised and have no exposed sores that I know of.

I am sure exposure to anything is a long shot, but I know everyone takes blood very seriously. Even if the risks are small, do I need to take any emergency actions?

Thank you.

posted by anonymous to health & fitness (3 answers total)

Sitting on blood (almost certainly another patron's menstrual blood, ew) doesn't seem like an STD risk to me, nor does it to these professionals.
posted by Sidhedevil at 12:12 PM on June 12, 2012

Another response from a professional.
posted by Sidhedevil at 12:16 PM on June 12, 2012

One more.

My best friend was for many years a doctor in a prison, and although they were quite rigorous about safety, things do go wrong. The only time she ever did testing and medication was when she had a needle stick while working with a patient she knew for a fact to be HIV-positive. This with a population that had a tremendously high HIV-positive rate, several times higher than the general population (given that so many of the inmates were sex workers, IV drug users, or both).

The chances that the person who rudely left their blood on the toilet seat is HIV positive are vanishingly small. The chances that you happened to sit on the blood in the couple of minutes before viruses died off are vanishingly small. The chances that you had a cut on your thighs or ass that would be a vector for blood-to-blood transmission are vanishingly small. So you're looking at not going to happen times not going to happen times not going to happen.
posted by Sidhedevil at 12:23 PM on June 12, 2012 [4 favorites]