[Question #1356] Accidental exposure

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96 months ago
Sir, 
I read and heard  many things  about people getting hiv infected from syringe kept in the seat of  cinema theatre , syringe kept in Parks seating areas and play ground. What is credibility  of this information? I mean if a person takes  his hiv blood in syringe  and keeps in seat or in play ground and if some other person sits in seat can get a prick from syringe . Can like this exposure cause hiv infection??
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
96 months ago
Welcome to the forum. Thanks for your question.

You have been reading unreliable, inflammatory, or perhaps intentionally misleading sources. These are theoretical risks, based on the possibility that an HIV infected person's blood was present in discarded needles, which could be transmitted if a needle injury occurred. Probably it could happen, in just the right circumstances (recently used needle, fresh blood, fairly deep needle injury, etc). However, I am not aware of a single case in which this actually was proved to happen. You cannot rely at all on people who claim they were infected in this way, e.g. from testimonials on websites. Most such persons in fact had other, standard risks but do not admit them or don't even know about them -- for example, someone who doesn't want to admit he is gay, or might be unaware his regular sex partner had HIV.

If you come across discarded injection equipment, carefully dispose of it and obviously avoid being injured by the needle. Otherwise do not worry about this. It's not a significant risk for HIV.

I hope this information has been helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.

Best wishes--  HHH, MD

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96 months ago
Sir , 
I think  you mentioned  there are no proved cases of hiv infection in this way .  It depends  on deep injury and fresh blood in syringe .

 Let say  there is syringe containing  fresh blood is kept in theater seats  or walking pavements, and someone person tries to sit and get pricked by needle or needle got pricked to walking person feet . What will be your advise to that person abt hiv infection??


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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
95 months ago
Re-read my reply above, starting with "Probably it could happen...". IF you were to sustain such an injury, I would suggest you see a doctor for advice about HIV testing and possible treatment to reduce the possibility of infection; and take the syringe with you. But this isn't going to happen and I suggest you not give this another thought.

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95 months ago
I forgot to say that my gums sometimes bleed when I brush my teeth, and I brushed my teeth a couple of hours before the incident.
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
95 months ago
This makes no difference in my opinons or advice. Tooth brushing or bleeding gomes make no difference in risk of HIV.

That completes the three replies included after each new question and so concludes this thread. Do your best to move on without worry. If you cannot, first re-read my replies (and the many other reassuring discussions you can easily find on this forum). If you still remain so abnormally frightened about this, or about other forms of infection or contamination, professional counseling might be worth considering. I suggest it from compassion, not criticism, because your questions imply an abnormal level of fear about such things. Good luck.

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