I have a very shallow, small wound on my thumb. while i was wiping in the bathroom, the paper ripped and some trace amount of fecal matter made contact with the wound. i immediately washed thoroughly with soap, do i need to be worried about sepsis?

Although not impossible, it is unlikely that you will get sepsis from a shallow, small wound, especially after washing. You might get a local infection. Please watch for pain, swelling, redness, discharge or warmth. See your primary care provider for more.

Wound infection will precede a possible sepsis and that will be relatively easily recognizable on local signs/ inflammation. You did the right thing by washing thoroughly your hands reducing significantly the risk for a local infection.

While intact skin is your best protection against infection, sometimes the skin is breached (cut, scrape). Washing your cut and rinsing with lots of clean water is a very good way to reduce the numbers of bacteria in the wound. For people with an intact immune system, your body will take care of any residua. Don't worry.

Apply triple antibiotic ointment to the wound to prevent infection from this episode of contamination or other exposures. You do not need to worry about sepsis. If you get fever, see a doctor.