You are correct that HIV infections are more common amongst the LGBTQ+ community.   Interactions with infected persons during your activities of daily living however, do not put you at risk for acquisition of infection. HIV is harder to transmit than is commonly believed. HIV is transmitted only through penetrative, sexual contact or injection of infected material deep into tissue. Even then, less than one percent of direct contacts of the sort I mentioned lead to acquisition of infection, and most typically the risk for infection is lower than one in 1000. The virus becomes non-infectious almost immediately upon contact with the air/environment. For that reason if you happen to contact an inanimate surface such as a countertop or toilet seat where HIV infected blood or secretions have been present, there is no risk of infection. Similarly, while on the list of theoretical ways in which the virus can be transmitted, there are no instances in which shaking hands with someone with a cut on their hands  or your hands as led to transmission of HIV.  That’s day-to-day interactions with persons who have HIV do not represent any danger to you whatsoever. Normal interactions do not require concern nor testing.

I hope this information is helpful. I might suggest that you look at other questions and our responses on the forum. We leave them there, so that clients can review the information we provide. If you have additional questions, we provide a total of up to three responses to each client’s questions. If any part of my responses are unclear or there further questions, you have two follow-ups remaining. EWH.

Please don’t worry.  EWH