Question: Hello Dr,

Please help and guide, on the 1 July 2012, me and my family have visited a shopping mall, in one ofthe retail stores their were a huge discount sale on extremely formals shirts, the shirts were placed in a basket and were marked down by 75%. As any other human, I also scrathed through the clothes to find my spesific size. During the scrathing exercise one of the pins used to keep the shirts in tack scratched me on my hand. There were some bleeding from my side but not even enough to mention. Since then I am totally in a stage of anxiety. My wife who was with me, indicated that I must relax and that HIV doesnt get transmitted in this fashion, but still I cannot get myself to relax. A rapid test was done on me on Tuesday the 24 of July and it was negative. What is my changes for been infected with HIV during this incident. Please It feel to me my whole world is busy falling apart, I cannot focus at work and also substain from any intercourse with my wife. Your advise and guidance is much appreciated. I did some research on the internet and most of the people who went through a similar experience were told not to worry, because the virus dies instantly outside the body, there were suppose to be fresh blood present on the pin, and that a pin is not like a needle which have a hollow space wherein the virus can hide from external factors, therefore the possibility of a 0.03% of transmission if injected deeply into the body vessels via a needle prick. Please be XXXXXXX with me, do I need to worrry and stress out or must I relax. I am from South Africa. Your guidance and assistance is greatly apprecaited. How long must I wait if I want to be tested again?

Thanks Dr.

In your opinion as medical professional is it possible for the HIV to be transmitted in this way?