Occupational HIV Exposure (PEP decision)
Applies the US Public Health Service framework for an occupational exposure to HIV.
Open the calculator → Runs in your browser. Data leaves only if you deliberately send a problem report from the interactive tool.
Example
- What happened
- Percutaneous injury: a needlestick or a cut with a sharp object
- Source HIV status
- Known HIV positive
- Hours since the exposure
- 2 h
Result: prophylaxis recommended, 2 hours after a percutaneous injury
The tool opens with these values already filled in. Replace them with your own.
What the result means
- What counts as an exposure
- A percutaneous injury, contact of a mucous membrane or non-intact skin with blood or another potentially infectious material, or a bite with blood exposure. Intact skin is not one.
- Source known positive
- Post-exposure prophylaxis is recommended.
- Source unknown
- Not routinely recommended; decided case by case on the likelihood the source is infected. An unknown source is not a positive source.
- Source known negative
- Not recommended, resting on the result being reliable and on no reason to suspect recent infection in the source.
- No more two-drug tiering
- The 2013 update removed the basic regimen. Exposures are no longer tiered by severity, and every recommended course is three drugs or more.
- Timing
- Begin in hours rather than days, and do not wait for source testing: start, and stop if the source is later found negative.
What you enter
- What happened
- Hours since the exposure
- Source HIV status
- Risk factors for HIV are known in the source (relevant only when the status is unknown)
How this is calculated
Kuhar DT, Henderson DK, Struble KA, et al. Updated US Public Health Service guidelines for the management of occupational exposures to HIV and recommendations for postexposure prophylaxis. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2013;34(9):875-892. Read the source ↗
A reference and educational tool. Not medical, legal, or financial advice, and not a substitute for clinician judgment.