How can you get HIV in a healthcare setting?

There are three main ways HIV can be transmitted in a healthcare setting, including:

1. if a needle that had been in a HIV-positive patient’s body pierces your skin (needle-stick injury)
2. if infected blood gets into your mucous membrane – such as the eyes, nose or mouth
3. if infected blood gets into an open cut in your skin.3

If you are a healthcare worker and have experienced one of these three situations, you are said to have ‘occupational exposure to HIV’. This means you may be at risk of developing an HIV infection.

It is important to seek help from another healthcare worker immediately if you have experienced one of these situations, and take an HIV test.