[Question #644] HIV Scare

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101 months ago
Hello Dr.

Last week I went to a massage parlour and the girl there gave me a hand job. I have been worried about the possible risk encounter from then.

1). If the lady had a cut on her hand and then gave me a handjob would that transmit the hiv.

2). Have sucked the nipples and I had mouth ulcer.  Will it increase the risk

3). I also had a small cut on my hand, if the cut comes in contact with the nipple of a lactating women is that considered a risk.

Sorry for being naive but the circumstances are forcing me to post these questions
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
101 months ago
Welcome to the forum. Thanks for your question, which arrived while I was logged in. Most users should not expect nearly real-time replies!

You indeed are naive. I don't mean that as criticism -- I'm only agreeing with your own self-assessment. It's a good sign; that you recognize your lack of knowledge indicates your ability and willingness to learn and understand. I hope to get you started.

HIV is very difficult to transmit from one person to another. Large amounts of the virus must be exposed to certain cells, which are deep inside the body. Quick contact with infected blood or body fluids is never enough. That's why HIV is an STD, or passed only by direct injection of the virus into the bloodstream. If contacts like this could pass the virus, HIV and AIDS would be a hundred times more common than it is, and it would not be called an STD. Here is another way to look at it: there are millons of HIV infected people; any any time, many of them have cuts on their hands; and at any time, people without HIV, who have their own cuts, shake hands with HIV infected people, exchange money with them, and otherwise have the kind of day to day contact that most humans have with one another. And yet none of those people catch HIV. In addition, the busiest HIV/AIDS clinics, we never see infected persons who did not have unprotected sex, or share drug injection equipment, with infected persons. That alone tells you that HIV can't be transmitted by non-intimate contact. (Even before HIV was discovered and known to be the cause of AIDS, scientists were able to inform the public that without intercourse or shaing needles, there was no risk.)

For those reasons, you definitely were not at risk for HIV from the event you have described. To be sure there is no misunderstanding, here are replies to your specific questions:

1) Hand genital contact never transmits HIV, regardless of cuts on the hands.

2) Exposure to nipples or breast fluids carries no risk to worry about. Even when babies are nursed by HIV infected moms, swallowing a few ounces of milk every day, most do not catch the virus. The tiny amount of fluid you're worried about is no risk at all, regardless of ulcers or sores in the mouth.

3) Contact of your own cuts with anybody's blood or body fluids carries no significant risk.

So you should not be at all worried. Without unprotected sex with infected partners, and without sharing drug injection equipment with other persons, you will never catch HIV. You should not be at all worried and do not need testing for HIV or other STDs.

I hope this has helped. Best wishes and stay safe--   HHH, MD




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101 months ago
Thanks Dr.HHH . 

One final question, do i need to go for any test ? 

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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
101 months ago
As I said above:  "You should not be at all worried and do not need testing for HIV or other STDs."

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