[Question #904] continuation of old thread

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99 months ago
sir,
1) i asked in the previous thread about hiv risk from sharp objects piercing or poking in the body ( if that sharp objects contain blood) because dr. hunder handsfield says thre is a risk . please give me clear answer?
2)let say there is blood ( small or large amount) in environment like mirror or door or window . accidently if face just touched in door or glass . let say my eyes and mouth came contact with blood in glass or door or anything . wht is my risk?
3)if a person with bleeding hand touched my mouth and eyes . and some blood got into eyes and mouth. whta is the hiv risk. , i request you to answer all these question separately. thanking you sir
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
99 months ago
Welcome back. But I'm sorry to see you didin't understand (or perhaps believe?) the information Dr. Hook provided in your previous thread.

You are spending way too much effort trying to analyze biological factors and hypothetical exposure that are extremely unlikely. All patients in the world's busiest HIV/AIDS clinics have had the traditional, known high risk exposures: high risk sex, shared drug injection equipment, birth to infected mothers, and so on. There are no patients who give no history of such exposures. (When such persons initially give such stories, invariably they are shown to be false -- that high risk exposures actually occured after all.) If exposures like you describe actually occur in measurable numbers, then obviously there would be occasional patient without known high risk exposures. This is exactly the kind of evidence that, in the early to mid 1980s when AIDS was newly spreading in the US and Europe and HIV hadn't even been identified as the cause, scientists were able to reassure the public that it is not transmitted by non-intimate personal contact or in the environment. Because no infected persons had not had high risk sex, shared needles, etc, it was clear that there was no risk without such esposures.

In reply to these specific questions you ask, just try to logically analyze the the probabilities. IF someone somehow left behind a bit of blood on a mirror, door or window; IF that person had HIV; IF that HIV infected person had a high viral load, e.g. not on treatment; IF before the blood had not yetdried (e.g. within a minute or so); IF you didn't notice the blood; IF you were unlucky enough to touch that spot; IF you immediately rubbed that finger into an open sore or your eyes, I suppose you might get infected. But of course this is rank nonsense. This sequence of improbabilities simply is never going to happen.

I'm going to ask that you no ask about any more such "what if" scenarios. Each and every one you might think of undoubtedly will have the same answer. The way for you to avoid HIV is to not have unsafe sex with new or high risk partners, and not share drug injection equipment with anyone else. That's all. Otherwise forget it.

Regards--  HHH, MD

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99 months ago
Thank sir , what concerns me.is that if a persone with actively  bleeding hands touched my.eyes, am.I.at risk.of hiv??
2) suppose if I touch an another person wound which is actively bleeding  with my hand  and with same.hand if I immediately touch my.eyes am I at risk hiv ,??
Sorry to.ask these types of.question but am worried
Thanking you sir
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
99 months ago
And what exactly did you think I meant in my closing paragraph above? You had done exactly what I asked you not to do, post obviously low-risk "what if" situation. Could such exposures transmit HIV? Probably yes. Has it ever happened? Probably not, or extremely rarely -- for the reasons above. If you encounter blood in the environment, don't touch it; or if you think you might have done so, wash your hands promptly.

Your questions suggest you may have OCD of the type that shows up as abnormal fear of contagion. It can be an early sign of serious mental health disability. (For an excellent example of where it can lead, see The Avioator, the excellent film biography of Howard Hughes.) If these irrational fears of catching HIV in the environment are seriously affecting your life, as they seem to be, you should seek professional mental health counseling. I suggest it from compassion, not criticism.

But please do not ask any more questions about it on this forum, either in this thread or a new one. We cannot help any more than we already have.

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