[Question #3271] Risk or no risk?
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90 months ago
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Hello doctors, I'm a healthy 25 years old female. I have cuts on my lips due to the cold weather. and my lips are totally cracked. I'd like to know if any infected fluid falls on the fresh cuts on my lips, does it hold a risk of infections??
Actually it is not from sexual exposure. My house-keeper had bleeding gums and she used my mouth wash, I forgot to discard it . I did not clean the bottle and used it on myself, exposed my lips with the cuts to the same bottle that she used, and I'm worried she might have gotten her blood on the part of the bottle that touched my lips. Am I at risk considering I dont know her seropositive status? ( Worried for hepatitis and HIV both) .
Should I get tested?
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
90 months ago
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Welcome to the forum. Thanks for your question.
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For sure you are not at risk of HIV or anything else on account of these events. Here's why:
Because "blood contact" sounds risky, it is easy to fear that any blood contact, no matter how trivial, may carry some risk. However, this simply isn't true. While in theory transmission might occur in circumstances like yours, if someone were very unlucky, it doesn't happen with any measurable frequency. For example, the busiest HIV/AIDS clinics simply never have patients who did not have the standard, known risks -- i.e. unprotected sex, shared drug injection equipment, being born to an infected mother, etc. And if you think about it, at any point in time millions of people have cracked lips and come into contact with people in the same way you describe with your housekeeper -- and yet no known infections from such exposures. On top of all that, I would point out you have no particular reason to believe your housekeeper might have any of these infections.
So you can move on without worry, and without testing.
I hope this information is helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.
HHH, MD
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90 months ago
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Thank you for the response.
I had another experience last month. I was in a public washroom and accidentally touched somebody's used sanitary pad unknowingly, I was so grossed out that I dont remember washing my hands after. I panicked and threw it the trashcan which was loaded with the used toilet paper. and then used the washroom immediately in the next few seconds. might have touched my vagina and anus. But I dont really remember if I washed my hands after disposing the pad. Do you recommend testing for this?
I'm extremely scared and can't get the incident out of my head.
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90 months ago
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So i might have touched people's used toilet paper as well
just scared that it might have infected fluid which i might have accidentally put it in my vaginal canal.
all the tissues were wet as well as te pad was freshly left there as per what i noticed
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
90 months ago
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No worries here either. In the earliest days of the recognized world wide HIV/AIDS epidemic (early to mid 1980s), even before the cause (HIV) was known, it was possible for public health experts to reassure the public that there is no risk of catching it from the environment, including toilets, kitchens, shared eating or drinking utensils, etc. Why? Because even the busiest HIV/AIDS clinics and doctors never had any patient who did not have the standard, known risks: unprotected sex, shared drug injection needles, etc. None. That's stil the case: people living in the homes of HIV infected people NEVER get it, assuming they aren't sex partners etc. So while in theory it may seem that events like you describe might transmit the virus, it simply doesn't happen. Use common sense hygiene in toilets and afterward (handwashing etc) and then don't worry about it. No risk at all.
Does that help?
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