[Question #7805] Confusion

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50 months ago
I have some doubts regarding hiv 
1) I cook with friends , while cooking I get cuts with knife  , if knife had blood before from somebody wounds , can I get hiv ?. 

2) is this above situation like needle stick injury?. I think knife has more blood than needle outside portion . I am so confused can you help me?
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
50 months ago
Welcome to the forum. Thank you for your questions. 

Public health, many physicians, and health educators have done a poor job in some aspects of HIV risks and public education. It's easy to assume that almost any contact with blood carries significant risk of infection. This is untrue:  it takes substantial blood exposure. There has never been a single case of HIV known (or even suspected) to have been acquired through the sort of contact you describe. The only known instances of HIV infection with sharp objects is when visibly bloody intruments or needles injured health care providers while in the act of performing procedures on HIV infected persons. (The quality of public information about HIV also is often influenced by social conditions. Some countries, provinces, states, or ethnic groups have been led to believe that HIV is much easier to transmit than it is. Consider reviewing authoritative website -- i.e. professional or professionally moderated -- for accurate information; and avoid sites of religious or political groups, and those conducted by and for selected populations without professional invovement.)

1) Unless there was visible wet blood on the knife, this entirely free of any risk. And you further would have to assume friends using the knife had HIV themselves, which probably is unlikely. Even a few minutes of drying, and absence of visible blood, would mean no risk at all.

2) For those reasons, the answer is no:  this is very different than needlestick injury (which itself is rare).

I see no cause for worry and do not recommend testing for HIV or anything else. I hope this information is helpful; let me know if anything isn't clear.

HHH, MD
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50 months ago
Sir, 

1)SUPPOSE  if there is visible blood in knife ,  how much would be risk of HIV ?.I think it is less or rare because we don't hear much of such hiv  transmission. 


2) another doubt not yet cleared is , comparison of needle stick  injury with knife injury or injury from tools form work. I mean knife contains more blood than needle , so there is more blood , more chances of ?HIV  transmission?

3) in my daily life routines , I play football, or I go to work during this times I sometimes gets wounds. I am thinking what is probability of hiv transmission in these cases, suppose If i come in contact with another person blood?. Is such HIV transmission rare ?
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
50 months ago
1) Enopugh wet blood to see it dripping, within a minute or two after cutting someone who had HIV. We don't hear of such transmissions because it doesn't occur. 

2) Nobody ever got infected by injury with a tool at work (not counting medical work with sharp instruments).

3) These are zero risk events. The only environmental exposure that might risk HIV would be something like providing care for someone after a bloody injury, like an auto wreck or gunshot wound, with blood more or less all over the place.

All you need to remember is this:  if you do not have unprotected sex with an ifnected partenr, and if you not share drug injection equipment with other people, you will never get HIV. Stop worrying about the things you have been asking about. This is really a waste of your emotional energy and time.
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50 months ago
Ok.sir, 
1) did anyone got  infected with hiv by the needles lying in road side or environment? 

2) as you said in auto wreck or gunshot incident , how many percentage have got hiv like this?.is this hiv transmission rate in these scenarios is less?
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
50 months ago
1) No. This is one of those theoretical risks that has never been known to actually happen.

2) I also am not aware of any case of HIV acquired by someone helping an auto accident victim, anywhere in the world. It's higher risk than the other things you have asked about, but it's very uncommon, if it has ever happened at all.

That concludes this thread. Please note that repeated questions on the same topic are not permitted. Please do not post any more of this sort. Thank you for your understanding.
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