[Question #9940] 9082 follow up
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27 months ago
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since my needle was sitting in a cup of purified water prior to me pricking myself ,would any blood on the tip of the needle be rendered non infectious by the purified water?
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27 months ago
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in the unlikely event that someone used it during a 5 minute break i took and the office door was left open. lots of folks roam around my office floor.
if someone came in and infected the needle and placed it back in the cup of purified water where it was when i returned, would the purified water, like exposure to air, render a drop of blood on the tip of the needle non infectious?
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27 months ago
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essentially i have read doctor hook say
hiv would die immediately in pure water
and other such comments about hiv in water. so that’s the genesis of my question thanks!
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27 months ago
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sorry i wanted to add one more thing. i’ve read some horror stories here about folks who don’t need testing and continue to and get false positives. due to my ocd about hiv i’ve over tested in the past ans not had that happen. but i don’t want to enter that potential trap if i don’t need to.
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
27 months ago
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Welcome back to the forum, but sorry you found it necessary. I reviewed your recently completed discussion with Dr. Hook and agree with all his comments and advice. I suggest you re-read that exchange; the answers to these additional issues are there, or should be obvious from that discussion.
Many statements about how long HIV survives outside the body -- in blood, on objects in the environment, etc -- are not the result of systematic research, but logical conclusions based on what is known of the biology of the virus and epidemiologic information, such as absence of known cases of infection following exposures in the environment. But I am confident, along with Dr. Hook, that HIV rapidly becomes non-infectious in water.
Your scenario of how an HIV contaminated needle might have gotten into a cup of water seems fanciful; as is the likelihood that such a needle would be from an HIV infected person in the first place. If somehow that sequence of events actually happened, I am confident there would have been no risk of HIV from an injury with that needle. However, you are free to be tested for HIV if you remain unconvinced and would like the reassurance of a negative test result.
"Horror stories" of the sort you mention should be ignored. Anybody can write anything they want on the web. We always recommend that people concerned about HIV, exposure risks, etc limit their searching to professionally organized or moderated sites. Ignore those by and for people at risk or infected. Of course some people have HIV without knowing the exact source; that some of them attribute it to otherwise unproved exposures is a mix of intentional falsehood, misunderstanding true high risk exposures (e.g. not knowing their regular partner was high risk), etc, etc. Ignore all such stories.
Best wishes -- HHH, MD
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27 months ago
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thank you.
the immersion in water or if left in the air would render the needle tip non infectious. i think i get that now.
the horror stories i mentioned were about folks on this forum who rarely test unnecessarily and get a false positive and have to test again and again to prove negative. my ocd would find that crippling. in the past i’ve tested too often for no risk events and i’m trying not to do so again. so since you and dr hook agree this scenario of the prick is a no risk event testing would not be medically necessary?
ocd is a rough one.
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27 months ago
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of course had i not pricked myself with this needle tip as mentioned in my original question i would never have thought about this. my the needle prick really got my ocd going.
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
27 months ago
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The scenario you describe -- a false positive HIV test -- is a rare one on the forum. In our nearly 20 years, I recall only one such case, which was just a few weeks ago; maybe you saw that thread? There might have been another in the distant past, but that's all I'm aware of.) False positive HIV test results are exceedingly rare, even more rare in the last 10-15 years (with improved tests). Such a fear is not a valid reason not to test, assuming there is legitimate risk. In any case, I see no need for you to have an HIV test at this time -- at least no "medical need" as you put it. Whether or not you need a negative test result to get beyond your worries about this event is up to you.
You don't have to remind us of OCD and its impact. A very high proportion of forum questions are similar to yours in that sense. All I can say is that, as you undoubtedly already know, factual information and science often aren't sufficient to provide needed.
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