Question
Do I need to extend PEP if I have occupational exposure while taking it?
31 October 2026. Related: Adherence, All topics, PEP/PEPSE.
Anxious new grad nurse here from the US.
I had my first HIV+ client and after giving them their insulin , while taking the needle to the sharps bin it accidentally sticked me. On the day of the stick i was already on day 8 of PEP (personal reasons).
I contacted occupational health and did all the protocols. I informed them that I had already been on PEP for 8 days and was not advised to extend the course past the 28 days. Has anyone else been through something similar ?
Should i recontact the provider ?
Answer
Hi there
For cases of occupational exposure, we recommend people follow medical advice provided by their employer and/or local guidelines.
i-Base are not doctors so we only provide information.
In this case, your PEP would also be acting as PrEP for both sexual and occupational exposure and also acting as immediate PEP. There are no research studies in such a specific and uncommon situation. However, the advice you were given is likely to be overly cautious on the basis that additional meds won’t harm you, so there is little to loose by extending the course.
This isn’t the same as there being an evidence showing you need to extend PEP or that doing this will have any impact on the risk.
This link to info on PEP covers the situation after having sex on PEP:
i-base.info/qa/factsheets/pep-faq
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