[Question #9209] Worried mom

35 months ago

My 7 year old daughter has molluscum contagioum with several spots on her buttocks and the backs of her upper thighs.

While the molluscum start out as flesh bumps, they become inflamed as they start healing and can pop (similar to a pimple). She has had this for awhile as is customary.

I did not cover her molluscum with bandaids which seems so foolish now and my fear is she used a public restroom with period blood on it and hiv entered her bloodstream through the open “sore” where one popped on her leg or buttocks.

I have a history of ocd and my husband says I did nothing wrong. I just love her so much and can’t bear the thought that my negligence in not covering the molluscum that may have popped caused her to have hiv.

I know it is likely unlikely but can you confirm there Is there no risk at all and I can push from my mind?

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

35 months ago

Welcome to the forum. Thank you for your confidence in our services.

Your husband is right: you certainly did nothing wrong. Nobody ever caught HIV from any exposure to contaminated environment, including public toilets. It never happens -- it takes far more intense exposure to HIV to allow infection than the superficial sort of contact you could ever have in a contaminated environment, regardless of mollyscum contagiosum or any kind of open sore. (The only way anyone ever catches HIV in restrooms is by having unprotected sex or sharing drug injection equipment while there!) I think you correctly understand (intellectually) that this is your OCD speaking: you really needn't worry at all about HIV in your daughter.

I hope these comments are helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.

HHH, MD

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35 months ago

Thank you - even if she used a campground bathroom there would be no concerns at all? Even if she had picked a sore or it popped?

She had a birthday party with a friend at a campground and I know they can be dirty.

There is absolutely no need to test her?

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

35 months ago

Still zero risk. You have some unfounded beliefs or fears about HIV transmission. There has never been any person, including children, diagnosed with HIV who did not have traditional risk factors. If this sort of thing could transmit the virus, then in the 40+ years of the worldwide HIV/AIDS epidemic, there would have been at least a few cases in people who could not be found to have traditional risk factors. But there are no such cases known. It takes a whole lot more virus for infection to take hold than you could possibly contact in this situation. You should not put her (or yourself or your husband) through the inconvenience, cost, and anxiety that would accompany testing. Don't do it.---
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35 months ago

Ok - I know this is my last one - I just don’t know what is happening to me - these terrible thoughts keep popping in my head - it’s stealing all my attention.

Last summer my daughter played at a friends house and that friend had a long-term house guest who I later found out was a recovering heroin addict.

This former-addict was a female and the same issue concerns me - what if she used the toilet, left blood, and in my daughter’s haste (she would have only been 6) my daughter got blood on her privates while climbing on the potty - it’s almost like I can see it happening.

This is crazy right? No rational person would even consider this? This is my ocd. You said it takes a large exposure to blood but I keep thinking “what if” this is the time.

No testing right? She doesn’t have anything wrong and this is my problem, not my daughters. I should forget about it forever?

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

34 months ago

Soorry for the short delay in responding to this follow-up cmmmnt. You correctly understand that is is your OCD working overtime. This is too unlikley a ssequence to pass judgment about. Even if your child contacted HIV infected blood on the toilet seat, it would be no significant HIV risk.

Really this is nothing to be worried about, except for suggesting your OCD may need follow-up attention by your mental health provder, as you say in your new thread this morning. I have closed that question and asked the modertors to credit your account for it.

That concludes this thread. I will also delete the new question you started today because of the delayed reply here.

Really, do your best to delete these fears and ask your OCD provider for ways to put this behind you.

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