[Question #10049] Risk of getting HIV
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26 months ago
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Hello
I am on theraphy for ocd with hiv. This is not a direct anxiety related question. I want expert opinion as this happend in a hospital and blood involved.
Yesterday I was at City Hospital and wanted to use the washroom. This wasroom had 2 sinks( in beteween there was 2 meter gap). Each sink had a facuet, wall mounted soap dispenser and a wall mounted manual paper towel dispenser (lets say sink 1 and 2).
Upon entering ,I grabbed a paper towel from sink 1 dispenser . Then before touching or turning on sink 1 facuet, I saw few half dried/dried red blood drops (red marks not seems to be fresh) on sink 1. As there were visible red marks on sink 1 , I avoided the sink 1 and used the sink 2 in same washroom to wash my hands.
I used paper towel from sink 2 dispenser to turn on the faucet on sink 2 ( I didnt touch the facuet directly).But I touch and press the sink 2 soap dispenser to get soap and throghly wash my hands twice. I washed my hands around 30-40 seconds. Then I grabbed paper towels from sink 2 dispenser, dried my hands and turn off the faucet using same paper towels. After 3 mins I used hand sanitizer too.
I didnt touch the faucets or doors directly. I only touch soap dispenser and paper towels . I am pretty sure my hand skin was intact. There were no one in the washroom at the time.
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26 months ago
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I am quite sure there were no red marks on sink 2. But this incident keep me worrying , what if there were un noticed blood marks.
1. Can I get hiv if there were unnoticed blood marks on the paper I grabbed from sink 1 dispenser?
2. What if injured person touched the paper dispenser with blood?
3. Can I get hiv if there were unnoticed hiv infected blood/virus on sink 2 soap dispenser? I presses it to get soap.
4. Today morning I felt a sting on my hand. Then I saw tiny scratch which seems to be new. May be a result of yesterdays excessive hand washing. If i had this very minor scratch while washing my hands yesterday at hospital public washroom can i get infected?
5. Do I need to go on pep or get tested?
6. Is it safe to have unprotected sex with my spouse. Is there risk of hiv from the above incident.
Thanks!
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
26 months ago
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Welcome to the forum. Thanks for your questions. Thanks as well for acknowledging your OCD. The event you described would put you at no risk for acquisition of HIV or other blood-borne infections even if you had direct contact with infected blood or secretions. HIV is acquired only through direct sexual contact or direct injection of infected materials deep into tissue. Surface contact with potentially infectious materials does not put a person at risk for acquisition of infection. This is true, even if the person whose hands or other body parts are in contact with the infectious material has cuts or scrapes on their hands or fingernails. Still no risk. Thus in response to your questions:
1. No
2. No risk
3. No
4. No risk, see my comment above
5. Absolutely no need for testing or PEP
6. There is no risk related to the event you described from continued unprotected sex with your spouse.
You need to put your concerns behind you and move forward. I hope the information I have provided is helpful to you. Address your OCD. EWH.
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25 months ago
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Thanks for the information.
After 3.2 weeks of this incident I got a little painful pee size single lump little above my left groin.
(Generally I get boils/pimples intermittently on my inner thighs or under arms if I run on treadmill or do cycling and its a normal thing .)
Last week I did cycling on a trail and most probably that may cause this. I am not sure if it is a boil or swollen lymph node.But I cant find any other occurrences in my body other than this one.
1.Due to the hospital washroom incident I am little worried, can this be a ARS symptom due to that exposure?
2.Despite the symptoms should I move forward considering I can not get infected by hiv from my incident at washroom?
I am only worrying about above washroom incident as my only sexual contact is with my spouse (long lasting monogamous). we did a routine std panel 6 months ago (as we are planing for a baby) and all were negative.
I am working with my therapist and trying to move forward without reacting to no risk events.
This would be my final question .Thanks for your support.
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
25 months ago
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I suspect you know intellectually, if not emotionally that your questions are driven by your OCD, not by any meaningful likelihood that you acquired HIV through the no risk event you described nearly a month ago. My assessment has not changed. Thus:
1.Due to the hospital washroom incident I am little worried, can this be a ARS symptom due to that exposure?
The bump you describe is in no way suggestive of HIV, including the ARS
---2.Despite the symptoms should I move forward considering I can not get infected by hiv from my incident at washroom?
Correct. Please move forward. The washroom incident did not put you at any risk for HIV
Take care. EWH