[Question #9988] HIV from blood in food?
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26 months ago
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Hello Doctors! Hope all is well. I ordered a steak and cheese sandwich and Im 99.9% sure the guy cut thru his glove while making it, didn't really notice at first, then took off his gloves, washed his hands and had his co-worker finish the sandwich. If the guy making my sandwich was indeed HIV positive and I ate that sandwich is that a possible exposure? I googled (I know, not the best) and found mixed answers. People think HIV went
From monkeys to humans from eating them, and others claim from new science that HIV can survive longer than expected outside of the human body.
Also, what are the odds of HIV from precum during oral sex? The reason I ask is because a girl I was talking to was giving me oral sex and ended up getting flu symptoms around 2 weeks later, I just found that to be weird timing.
Should I seek out a test?
Thanks!
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
26 months ago
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Welcome back to the Forum. Thanks for your questions. I'll be glad to comment but to get tot he punch line first, there is virtually no realistic risk for HIV from either of the situations you describe. At baseline, the likelihood that either or the people you mention have HIV is very, very low- certainly less than 1%. That said, even if they did happen to have untreated HIV infection, these are still virtually no risk events as I explain below:
Food first. You cannot get HIV from eating food. While newborns can get HIV from ingesting breast milk, within a few weeks of birth the intestinal tract changes so that HIV can no longer get into an exposed person by eating food contaminated with HIV. HIV did come from monkey but not from eating them- the hunters who were infected with the predecessors to HIV almost certainly got infected through cuts and wounds which occurred while butchering the monkeys.
Oral sex. There are no proven cases in which someone has acquired HIV from receipt of oral sex from an infected person- none! You are not going to be the first. The flu-like symptoms experienced by your partner who previously performed oral sex on you is almost certainly coincidental. Even if her flu-like symptoms were due to the ARS of HIV, it would have been from an infection acquired in the interval since your BJ.
Bottom line, no risk, no need to test. Please don't worry. EWH
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26 months ago
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Thanks! Just wondering, why isn't food a possibility? Isn't your mouth a mucous membrane?
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
26 months ago
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All mucous membranes are not created equal. The GI tract is tougher (it has to withstand the trauma of food chewing, swallowing, etc,) Further enzymes and acids found in the GI tract are toxic for viruses.
EWH
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26 months ago
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I know this is my last question, how long does the virus last outside the body? I read it has to be pretty air tight in some places otherwise it becomes inactive, but Ive read some recent stuff that makes it seem like it lasts longer outside of the body than they thought. Also is there a difference between the virus being alive and being able to transmit/infect?
I thank you very much for your time. Just to confirm you cannot get HIV from food, and I do not need any testing, nor should worry about this?
Thanks again
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
26 months ago
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There is a difference between "alive" (definitions and "infectious". I presume the information you are mentioning is from the internet, a source that I would urge you to ignore or, better yet, not even approach. HIV is not infectious once exposed to the environment.
You cannot get HIV from ingesting contaminated food- you do not need testing, you need to move forward.
End of thread. EWH
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