Question

The chance that a health worker gets HIV from an accidental needle prick is:

• A. 1%
• B. 10%
• C. 95%
• D. 100%

Hint:

Percutaneous occupational HIV risk is roughly 0.3 percent, charted as about 1 percent.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Step 1: Concept. The risk of HIV transmission after a single percutaneous exposure (needle-stick injury) from a known HIV-positive source is low because the inoculum of virus delivered is very small compared with a transfusion.

Step 2: The number. The average risk of HIV seroconversion after a needle-stick or sharps injury in a health worker is about 0.3%, which is commonly quoted as roughly 1% in exam tables of relative risk per exposure. Hence option (a) is correct.

Step 3: Why the others are wrong. A 90% or more risk applies to transfusion of HIV-infected blood or blood products, not a needle prick. Values of 95% and 100% are far too high for percutaneous occupational exposure and do not match any real transmission category.

Step 4: Note. The risk rises with deep injury, visibly blood-stained device, hollow-bore needle in a vein or artery, and high source viral load. Post-exposure prophylaxis further lowers the chance of seroconversion.