POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: polands on July 11, 2011, 11:58:04 am
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Hi,
I am new to this website, and I am glad I found it because it seems so informative.
I have this habit of biting my lips until they bleed. So I went to a brick oven pizza restaurant, and I noticed the waiter had a huge cut on his knuckle on his right hand. It looked kind of fresh. And I just bit my lip and it was bleeding at that moment.
And he served us the pizza by cutting it up for us and then serving it to us by putting it on our plates. If blood somehow got from his cut to the pizza or to anything else he served us, could this transmit HIV especially after I had a fresh open cut on my lip?
Thank you.
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You never had an exposure.
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What if the waiter's cut was fresh and bleeding? Because it looked pretty new and fresh to me.
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HIV is unable to reproduce outside its living host (unlike many bacteria or fungi, which may do so under suitable conditions), except under laboratory conditions; therefore, it does not spread or maintain infectiousness outside its host.
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But I heard from somewhere else of the Hunter theory, where HIV was first transmitted from monkeys to humans. When hunters in Africa ate chimpanzees raw and got some of the chimpanzee blood into their own wounds, that is how they caught HIV.
Like I read the Transmission page on the website but it seems like it's only basic information. So if you pour blood into a wound that would not be considered a risk?
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It would not be a risk. Make sure you read the posting guidelines at the top of the page.
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you can get timed-out or banned?
okay, so i just don't understand the theory of HIV transmission, it doesn't seem basic as it seems.
so if you pour fresh blood over a fresh wound, that would not be considered a risk? i don't get it. i think if that happened to anyone it would freak them out.
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Freaking out and the facts about HIV transmission all equal one thing, not being educated in HIV transmission.
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Exactly! That's why I am asking, lol.
Could you explain why in detail things like pouring blood directly onto a fresh wound would not be considered as a risk? Is it because there has to be a ton of blood in order for infection to happen? Or does there have to be only just a drop of fresh blood?
Like fresh blood from the waiter's hand could have been mixed with the food because he touched the food directly and then served it. And then I ate it while exposing the fresh cut on my lip to the food. If his blood was fresh and the wound from my lip was fresh, and if any blood particles got in contact with my lip, wouldn't that be considered as a risk?
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Start reading the replies you have been given. It has already been explained to you.
HIV is unable to reproduce outside its living host (unlike many bacteria or fungi, which may do so under suitable conditions), except under laboratory conditions; therefore, it does not spread or maintain infectiousness outside its host.
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Polands,
Hiv is a fragile, difficult to transmit virus that is primarily transmitted INSIDE the human body, as in unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse where the virus never leaves the confines of the two bodies.
Once outside the body, small changes in temperature, and pH and moisture levels all quickly damage the virus and render it unable to infect. For this reason, hiv cannot be transmitted from objects in the environment, including food.
If you and another person both sliced your arms open at the same time and then immediately rubbed the wounds together, then yes, you might become infected if the other person had hiv. But that's nowhere near what happened, is it. You know it's not. I rather doubt that the waiter would be serving food with a fresh cut that was dripping blood anyway. He'd get fired for doing something like that.
Stop letting your imagination run wild. Hiv transmission absolutely cannot occur in the way you're thinking.
Here's what you need to know in order to avoid hiv infection:
You need to be using condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, every time, no exceptions until such time as you are in a securely monogamous relationship where you have both tested for ALL sexually transmitted infections together.
To agree to have unprotected intercourse is to consent to the possibility of being infected with an STI. Sex without a condom lasts only a matter of minutes, but hiv is forever.
Have a look through the condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use condoms with confidence.
ALTHOUGH YOU DO NOT NEED TO TEST OVER THIS CRAZY BLOOD-IN-FOOD SCENARIO, anyone who is sexually active should be having a full sexual health care check-up, including but not limited to hiv testing, at least once a year and more often if unprotected intercourse occurs.
If you aren't already having regular, routine check-ups, now is the time to start. As long as you make sure condoms are being used for intercourse, you can fully expect your routine hiv tests to return with negative results.
Don't forget to always get checked for all the other sexually transmitted infections as well, because they are MUCH easier to transmit than hiv.
Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, and you will avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple!
Ann