[Question #11253] HIV from urine on toilet seat paper
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15 months ago
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Hello, I have a slight concern. Lately I’ve developed this irrational fear of environmental contamination involving toilet seats. I had sat on the toilet to take a number 2 at work yesterday. I put down the toilet seat cover paper like I always do. Ocd likes to play mind tricks with me so it’s hard for me to remember exactly everything at times. What I can recall is my penis tip & urethra touching part of the paper hanging slightly down into the toilet which had urine on it. I assumed it was my own urine since I just had peed as well, But 100% don’t remember. Say Worse case scenario it wasn’t my urine and someone else’s urine from the seat had seeped through the paper and my penis tip/urethra had touched the wet paper with the urine on it. Is that even possible & would that put me at any risk for HIV if that even happened with urine on the toilet seat cover paper coming into contact with my urethra/tip? And does it matter how recent the urine from someone else has been on the toilet seat/paper? I do understand that HIV isn’t passed through urine, but in this scenario my urethra and tip was involved. The toilet seat looked relatively clean before I put the paper down. I didn’t see any urine. I just need some peace and mind from this incident since my actual tip and urethra made contact. Looking forward to hearing back from one of you guys. Thank you.
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
15 months ago
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Welcome to our Forum. Thanks for your question. It's my hope that I can help you move forward from this irrational concern. I could cite the likelihood that the person who used the toilet before you had HIV (a small fraction of 1%), or point out that HIV becomes non-infectious virtually immediately upon contact with the environment outside of the body but the most important FACT is that there is no evidence or even a scientific reason to worry that HIV might be acquired from contact of the urethra with an inanimate object (i.e. the toilet seat paper or even the toilet seat itself) which had be contaminated by urine or secretions from an untreated HIV infected person. None!!! There is no reason for concern and no scientific reason for testing related to the situation you describe.
I hope this reply will be helpful for you. OCD is a serious problem and I hope that you are addressing yours with professional help. EWH
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15 months ago
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All of that makes 100% sense Dr. Hook. Thank you for making that clear for me. I do have one more question, but more out of curiosity. I had went to the barbershop this morning and my barber had accidentally nicked me around my chin with the straight edge razor and I started to bleed. I’ve always wondered about this for years but worse case scenario just say in general, is it possible or ever been documented that someone has contracted HIV that way from the barber straight edge blade cutting them? I do understand the virus is dead seconds to minutes from being exposed to air. He is a clean barber and cleans his equipment. But even if the equipment was not sanitized properly and he used the blade on me and cuts me, is there a theoretical chance in this scenario or no? My appointment was at 10am and I was his first client. His last client was probably around 6-7pm yesterday so the blade hasn’t been used in 13-14 hours. Hope to hear from you. Thanks.
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
15 months ago
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We get many questions regarding the risk of acquiring HIV from nicks or scratches acquired in barbershops. There are no cases of HIV proven to have been acquired from nicks acquired in barber shops, none at all. No doubt this is related to the factors you mention. There is certainly no need for testing related to nicks occurring in barber shops. EWH---
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15 months ago
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Thank you Dr. for your input. I now have a better understanding about how it works with barbershops. Sorry to sound like this, but I just have very bad health and HIV anxiety. I apologize if I seem to be overwhelming you with multiple things, but I have to really know… So one last thing. I understand that deep kissing with tongue is no risk for HIV. I deep kissed a woman I had just met about 5 days ago. About less than 2 days later I felt slight sore throat on my left side only which went away in about 12 hours. I also felt possibly a lymph node or cyst develop right on my jawline on the right side 2 days after we kissed and I freaked out so bad that my body temperature was elevated over 99 degrees from high anxiety. She said she was sick almost 2 weeks ago prior to me kissing her since she still had a cough. My question is, can high anxiety cause lymph node swelling? And does a lymph node move with the skin if you pull it and not stick to the bone? Plz let me know. I’ve been very paranoid lately about HIV and my health. Thank you
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
15 months ago
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Final Response.
Correct, HIV is not transmitted through deep kissing. The sore throat and possible lymph node swelling is not due to HIV or any other STI- I say this categorically. Anxiety does not cause swollen lymph nodes or sore throat.
Please don't worry.
As you know, we provide up to 3 responses to each client's question. Therefore this will be my final response and the thread will be closed soon after it is posted. EWH
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