Inoculation of Cryptococcosis without Transmission of the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Abstract

To the Editor: The risk of HTLV-III seroconversion in health-care workers sustaining a needle-stick injury while caring for patients with AIDS appears to be low.^{1 , 2} There is only one report of seroconversion after a needle stick, which involved the inoculation of a small amount of blood.³ The transmission of hepatitis B virus but not HTLV-III after percutaneous exposure has been described.⁴ We report a similar case, which is of interest because (1) it again demonstrates the lack of HTLV-III seroconversion after percutaneous inoculation of enough HTLV-III antibody—positive blood to allow the transmission of another infectious agent, (2) it is a . . .