> Occasionally, a child might present to the ED with a
> needlestick injury
> received whilst playing outdoors, or a worried adult might
> present out of
> hours.
>
> How should emergency HIV prophylaxis be provided for non-occupation
> exposure?
>
> Is there a role for the ED?
Possibly in referral on to other specialities. We only offer prophylaxis if
the needle source is known HIV positive- unlikely in these circumstances.
However in areas with a high prevalence of HIV, it may be worth offering
prophylaxis- or if it was in the vicinity of a known "shooting gallery". The
risk/ benefit ratio in these cases is one that needs a lot of specialist
knowledge to estimate. There is a distinct shortage of good published
evidence on HIV prophylaxis. Sounds like one for the HIV specialists rather
than us dabblers.
Matt Dunn
Warwick
p.s. sorry for last post- replied before I read the next post saying the
same thing as me but better.
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