[Question #11033] Possibile route of HIV transmition
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17 months ago
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Hallo, I would like to ask the possibility of catching HIV without having unprotected sex or sharing needles, In two days ago while I sit on the toilet, my wound on ass touched the seat where has some liquid like blood on it, as I seen on the internet that if wound touch the blood there are possibility of catching HIV, and my cuts on fingure also let me afraid of touching outside things, but in real world is there any case that HIV transmitted in environment beside two obvious ways or some serious medical or car accidents? And if possibile can please explain the reason? Thx!
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
17 months ago
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Welcome to the forum. Thank you for your confidence in our services.
The direct answer to your specific question (...in the real world) is no: there has never been such a case known or, to my knowlege, even suspected. Anything to the contrary you have "see on the internet" did not come from professional or knowledgeable resources. Remember that anybody can say anything they want online, and there are people with HIV who have claimed such exposures as the source of their infections. Without exception, you can safely assume they are wrong -- either intentionally misleading or not understanding how they actually were infected.
The reasons and evidence are complex; you're going to have to do your own online research. In very brief summary, from the earliest days of the appearance of HIV/AIDS in North America and Europe -- in the early to mid 1980s -- it was apparent that all infected persons had experienced high risk sexual exposures or shared drug injection equipment with other persons. Within another year, it was known that blood transfusion or organ transplantation explained some cases, and that HIV can be transmitted from infected mothers to their babies during delivery or by nursing. After the causative virus was identified in the mid 1980s, it was possible to conduct experiments in the lab and in animals, and widespread testing of various populations confirmed that nobody ever tests positive without such exposures. Because blood was an obvious vehicle for transmission, public advice about prevention usually mentions "blood contact", but often without clarifying the types of blood contact that are necessary for transmission. Large amounts of blood are required, and/or the blood must have contact with certain kinds of cells that are deep inside the body.
Choose your sex partners wisely, use condoms and safe sex, and do not share drug injection equipment with anyone. Follow these rules and you will never get HIV and should not be at all worried about it.
I hope these comments are helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.
HHH, MD
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17 months ago
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Doctor HHH
Thank you for your response. After consulting relatively reliable internet sources, I've learned that the virus dies almost immediately upon contact with the environment. All the reported cases of infection have occurred through either of the two common methods we discussed or through extreme circumstances. For example, infection might occur during a fight if both individuals are bleeding, or if a nurse touches a bleeding person for an extended period without wearing gloves and has fresh injuries on their hands. Therefore, there have been no cases where HIV was transmitted by someone touching blood on a surface in the environment. Transmission in daily life, aside from scenarios where two bleeding wounds come into close contact for a sufficient duration, which is extremely rare, is essentially not a concern. So, there's no need to worry about the risk in everyday life since such cases do not occur, right?
Additionally, I have a minor question: Are
HIV symptoms very similar to those of other infections, like COVID-19? Every
time I experience a sore throat or diarrhea, I worry it might be caused by HIV.
If I don't engage in risky behaviors, should I not be concerned about 'HIV
symptoms'?"
Kind Regards
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17 months ago
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Sry just to add few words my example where my wounds touch liquid on toilet seat is consider no risk ?
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
17 months ago
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In general, your opening paragraph is correct. However, HIV doesn't necessarily die "immediately" in the environment; it depends on moisture and temperature, and in some settings the virus might survive quite a while. But its rapid inactivation contributes to the absence of risk from exposure to blood or body fluids outside direct person-to-person contact. There is real HIV risk when in contact with large amounts of blood, which is why emergency responders (and Good Samaritan citizens) caring for persons with major trauma like vehicular accidents, gunshots, etc. need to be careful, and ideally gloved, masked etc.
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There has never been a known case of HIV on account of wounds or other skin problem contacting toilet seats. Another fact that may assure you is that the household members of someone with HIV (who are not sex or needle sharing partners of the infected person) never become infected, even after years of sharing toilets, kitchens, utensils, towels, clothing, etc.
---HIV has many symptoms in common with many other medical conditions, but cough and nasal congestion is not among them. In general, though, symptoms are a very poor indicator either for or against new HIV infection. Even the most typical symptoms of early HIV infection (sore throat, fever, enlarged lymph nodes, skin rash) usually are caused by other, more common infections; and most new HIV infections cause no symptoms. Do not plan on ever relying on symptoms or their absence. Only blood tests are useful to judge whether or not HIV is present.
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17 months ago
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Thank you, I understand the route of transmisson now, so as far as I am not touch large amount of blood, infected from outside direct person-to-person contact is impossible because although HIV not dead immedicately after expose to environment but short amount to time to live while touch the air make the transmission very very hard and there are not case that infected from broken skin touch surface in the environment and dry blood are unable to transmit HIV, so I won't be so lucky be the first person to get HIV from toilet seat, broken skin fingure touch handrail or any surface in the environment, is my understanding correct? I understand that is my last follow up question so thanks for your guidence and help!
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
17 months ago
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All correct, except you mean "unlucky", not "lucky".
As you understand, that concludes this thread. Thanks for the thanks; I'm glad to have helped. Best wishes and stay safe. And never worry about HIV except for safe sex, and safe practices if you are into drug use.
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