[Question #12199] HIV Positive Friend

9 months ago

Hello,

A friend of mine is HIV positive. We were at a brunch and I noticed his finger had a red area - a scratch, a cut, an abrasion, a sore, etc. that may have been bleeding. My question is, with casual contact that occurs during brunch - hand shakes, his hand touching my arm, his hand touching my shirt, or even saliva from his straw splashing onto my skin or into my mouth... Is any of this a risk for HIV transmission, even if my skin or my mouth has cuts or scrapes and contacts his potentially bleeding wound or saliva? Thank you for your time and expertise.

9 months ago

In addition to my initial post... Would being scratched by my friend during a hand shake/hand contact be a risk for HIV transmission?

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

9 months ago

As you learned from Dr. Hook in your four other recent threads, there is never a risk of HIV or any other blood borne infection from contact with blood or other body fluids in the environment. This also applies to non-intimate contact with persons infected with HIV or other blood borne viruses. For example, the non sex-partner household members of HIV infected persons never catch the virus even after years of sharing toilets, showers, kitchens, etc with them; or by non-intimate personal contact like touching, hugging, social kissing, and so on. You are not at risk at all, regardless of the kinds of contact you describe.

Repeated questions on the same topic are not permitted. This will have to be your last question about HIV or other blood borne infections and non-intimate exposures. Thank you for your understanding.

HHH, MD

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9 months ago

Thank you for your response. The same applies to sharing food and drinks (being forms of non-intimate contact) - this is also no-risk?

9 months ago

I would appreciate the clarification regarding the sharing of food and drinks as being no-risk - it is my final inquiry. Thanks again for your time and expertise.

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

9 months ago

The biological reasons have not been studied. With no known cases transmitted in this manner in the 45 years of the world wide HIV/AIDS epidemic, why would anyone spend money and time on such research? Probably not enough HIV can survive in food or drink; and oral exposure to HIV is near zero risk even with large exposures, like swallowing semen from an HIV infected person.

That concludes this thread. Please note that repeated questions are subject to being deleted without reply and without refund of the posting fee. We're not keen on collecting fees for questions with obvious answers; repeated replies often prolong anxiety rather than relieving it (there's so often a "yes but" or "could I be the exception" sort of thinking); and such questions have reduced education value for other users, one of the forum's goals. Thank you for your understanding. I do hope that from your five discussions, you now understand that HIV simply is never a risk from the environment or non-intimate personal contact with infected persons. These are facts known since the first 6 months of the epidemic back around 1980.

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