[Question #11177] Infected room?

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16 months ago
Hi doctor. For the last 4 months I been losing my marbles. I had an encounter with an escort back in December of 2023. 

I took pep and have yet to be tested. I’m Planning on getting tested Today which will mark 80 days post pep and 4 months since the actual encounter. 

The reason i have been going crazy is because im soo scared and paranoid that I could potentially be living in a infected room that may have hiv. The reason I say so is because When I did have sex with the escort I was wearing a shirt and Underwear while having sex with her. I kept my underwear on and slipped my penis through the Front pocket hole that underwear has and did the deed. The reason I’m so paranoid is because when I got back home after doing that I put the dirty underwear and shirt in a basket and left it alone for 2 weeks and then one day I accidentally forgot about those potentially infected clothing and mixed it in my drawer with my clean clothing and than proceeded to touch a lot of other stuff in my room without washing my hands. Ex (door knobs, my car keys, my computer, my toothbrush and hair products and more…

 now I can’t stop constantly washing my hands after I touch anything in my room. I feel like I ruined my life by infecting everything in my room with the potential hiv infected vaginal/body fluids from the escort. 

Doctor it has got so bad that I wash my hands up to 20 times a day. got to the point where my hand is soo dry it bleeds sometimes. 


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16 months ago
My questions are 

1. Should I dispose of every clothing/any objects I have in my room since it may be infected with HIV? 

2. The night I got back from the escort I masturbated right after throwing the dirty underwear in a basket.  Is it possible I may have been infected by touching the possible hiv infected underwear and then masturbating right after without washing my hands? 

3. How long could Does hiv Fluids last on clothing and objects and are they able to infect? 

4. Do you recommended I get a cleaning crew and deep clean my room or is this not necessary? 

5. Am I at all in risk of getting hiv if I continue to wear the clothing that maybe have touched the infected underwear? 

6. Scientifically is it even possible to get HIV this way or am I being irrational and is it impossible this way to transmit? 

7. After I get my 80 days post PEP test done if everything comes out negative and I don’t have anything. Will this be conclusive and could I move on with my life or do you recommended I should continue to get tested especially since my room may be infected and it could infect me at any moment. 

THANK YOU so much doctor. I appreciate everything you do on this website and applaud  you for your work helping people out and answering their questions when in need. 
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16 months ago
Sorry I forgot to add one more question 
8. I have a sore throat currently should I wait until it goes away or does this not affect the hiv test accuracy. Just don’t wanna risk a false positive. 
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
16 months ago
Welcome to the Forum. Should you return, please respect the word limits for the Forum. They a there for a reason.  

The exposure you describe was low risk.  Most commercial sex workers do not have HIV and the risk of acquiring HIV from a single exposure from a single unprotected exposure is less than one infection for every 2000 exposures, on average.  Your PEP reduces your risk even further.  Finally, HIV is NEVER acquired from contact with inanimate objects including clothing, and is not transmitted by transfer of infected material on a persons hands to other parts of the body, including during masturbation.  In answer to your specific questions:

1. Should I dispose of every clothing/any objects I have in my room since it may be infected with HIV? 
No, See above.  Contamination with HIV infected secretions does not pose a risk

2. The night I got back from the escort I masturbated right after throwing the dirty underwear in a basket.  Is it possible I may have been infected by touching the possible hiv infected underwear and then masturbating right after without washing my hands? 
This is not possible.  HIV is not transmitted this way

3. How long could Does hiv Fluids last on clothing and objects and are they able to infect? 
HIV becomes non-infectious virtually immediately after it is exposed to the environment.

4. Do you recommended I get a cleaning crew and deep clean my room or is this not necessary? 
This is absolutely NOT needed

5. Am I at all in risk of getting hiv if I continue to wear the clothing that maybe have touched the infected underwear? 
Zero

6. Scientifically is it even possible to get HIV this way or am I being irrational and is it impossible this way to transmit? 
No, it is not scientifically possible for you to have acquired HIV from the environmental contact you describe

7. After I get my 80 days post PEP test done if everything comes out negative and I don’t have anything. Will this be conclusive and could I move on with my life or do you recommended I should continue to get tested especially since my room may be infected and it could infect me at any moment. 
I am confident your test will be negative.  This will PROVE that you were not infected.  At that time no further testing is needed and you should move forward without concern.

8. I have a sore throat currently should I wait until it goes away or does this not affect the hiv test accuracy. Just don’t wanna risk a false positive. 
There is no reason to delay testing. Your sore throat is unrelated to HIV and will not effect your results

I hope this information is helpful and you will be able to move on.  I am confident that your test will be negative and will prove that you were not infected  EWH
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16 months ago
Hey doc so I got tested last Monday and the results came in negative today. 
Test was taken 86 days post PEP and 115 days post Exposure. Can I be 100% sure I was not Infected or must I take another test at 6 months mark?? 

How conclusive is my Test results as a % considering I did take PeP

One more thing are you absolutely sure I am not at risk for touching potential infected clothing in my room? Because I really want to Get my life back together and I want to start off by cleaning my room which has a bunch of clothing on the floor I was too scared to touch before. I do have some cuts on my fingers so Is touching the Clothing I had on while sex with the escort, Safe 100% I really don’t wanna have another exposure. 

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16 months ago
Also doctor since it’s been more than a 100 days since exposure or 4 months wouldn’t that make it technically impossible for the virus to still be active on objects?
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
16 months ago
Your results are conclusive.  Be confident that you did not acquire HIV.

Once again, HIV is NOT spread through contact with infected/contaminated objects.  There is NO WAY that you could become infected through contact with a contaminated object.

Don’t worry about touching clothing that might have had infected secretions on them.  Clean your room and your clothes.  EWH
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