Hi.

Since a doctor is currently not online, I am going to go ahead and post this in the general forum, maybe someone has an useful answer.

I was at a doc today where I got mucus in my nose sucked out by this suction tube, with a head of plastic (or glass). He first put in some liquid in my nose (while I was lying down, with my nostrils facing up), and then he turned on the suction machine, and sucked mucus out of my nose while I had to say "K,K,K,K". Eventually from one of my nostrils there came blood. He did not suck any more from that nostril, but a lot of blood was sucked through the tube.

Now, my question is this. I am not sure if they "sterilize" the "heads" that they put on the tubes (the part which goes into the nose), I actually think they only wash it - and even this I am unsure of. Could I have gotten HIV, if someone with HIV/AIDS had been there some time before me to get mucus sucked out of the nose, and had bled?

Before the doc put the suction tube head into my nose, I did not notice any visible (red) blood on it.

Should I be worried?


Regards
Dan