Resolved question:
Should I be concerned about pricking my finger on my used cat brush. It pierced the skin like a needle prick so I put my finger under warm water and put betadyne on. It has fully healed up now as it was last week with no infection. But I'm only concerned cause my cat it an outside cat and likes to roll around in the dirt, plus I have never cleaned her brush. I live in Australia Victoria and I just had a tetanus shot last year.
Submitted:
4 Days
Category:
Infectious Disease Specialist
Hello,
Thank you for your query at DoctorSpring.com
I understand your concern.
Since you still have no signs of fever and it has healed, there is no further cause of concern.
The infections that are picked up mostly from felines or cats, are transmitted by consuming food contaminated with cat feces, or it comes directly from the dander. The risk you were exposed too, could have caused some localised inflammation and allergic manfestations locally. However nothing like that has happened, so you do not need to worry.
But just for your future reference if you have any needle stick injury or injury from rusty objects, make sure you get a tetanus shot right away since the effects of tetanus shot dies in one month. Some doctors claim it confers protection for 3 months, but that still has not been proved.
Hope this was helpful,
Regards.