[Question #12638] Possibility of contracting std touching anus

6 months ago

Hello Dr. I wanted to ask you regarding the likelihood and/or possibility of contracting an std/sti of a scenario I experienced yesterday. So I was talking to a friend of a friend of mine who is gay, nothing against gays, but I shook his hand at the beginning of the gathering. After giving this gay man a handshake I didn’t washed my hands, then I went to my hotel room and noticed my anus was itching, I proceeded to scratch my anus with my unwashed hand I have given the handshake to this gay men before. Then I used toilet paper and notice there was a little bit of blood due to irritation of scratching. After that I proceeded to wash my hands thoroughly. My worry comes with the fact that I scratched/touched my irritated anus which was bleeding a little bit with the same unwashed hand I used for giving a handshake to this gay men before. If this gay men had have any std/sti in his hand could I possibly be in danger or at risk of contracting an sti/std because I scratched my irritated anus with the same hand which was unwashed since the handshake?

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

6 months ago

Welcome back -- for your very last question on the forum, which I will explain further below.

Your several questions so far have all considered nonsexual transmission risks that not only carry no risk any sexually transmitted bacteria or virus. You have been repeatedly advised that without sex itself, there is no risk. Nobody gets STD -- including HIV, HSV, HPV, gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis or any other without direct penetrating sex (a penis inside another person's vagina, rectum, or mouth). There never a risk from normal personal contacts in social settings, haircuts or other cosmetic procedures, etc.

This is your seventh question asking about the possibility of HIV or other STDs through every kind of nonsexual contact with other people that you can think of. The answers have always been the same: you will never have any such infection unless and until you have unprotected sex, generally requiring penile penetration. You may not return to the forum with anymore questions about nonsexual transmission. Repetitive and/or anxiety driven questions are subject to being deleted without reply and without refund of the posting fee. This policy stems from compassion, not criticism, since we have learned that repeated answers generally prolong anxiety rather than resolving it. Such questions also have limited value in educating other forum users, one of our main goals.

So this is your last post on our forum. Thank you for your understanding. If you remain concerned, feel free to re-read your various threads. But assuming these sorts of fears persist, professional mental health counseling is going to be necessary. Best wishes and good luck.

HHH, MD

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