CDC Study Highlights the Differences in Perceived and Actual Risk
Needlestick injuries—as well as any percutaneous injury that can expose a person to tainted blood or body fluids—have long been a concern to both healthcare workers and the public at large.
Many of the fears have been fueled by media reports which either overstate the risk of acquiring HIV through needlestick injuries or spotlight cases in which victims are reported to be “living in fear” after having received such exposure (including much-reported incident in 2013 where a Michigan woman sued Etihad Airways after puncturing herself on discarded hypodermic needle left in a seatback pocket).1
While the perception of risk may be high in cases of needlestick injuries, recent analyses from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that the actual risk may be far lower—so low, in fact, that it can now be considered rare.
Questioning the “Three Out of a Thousand” Estimate
In a popularly referenced 1989 study, researchers suggested that the risk of acquiring HIV from a single needlestick injury involving HIV-contaminated blood was around 0.32 percent, or roughly three cases out of every 1,000 injuries.