contact with blood

[flexi]

Hello,

I am new on this forum and it would be great if someone from the people who has a big notice of HIV will do the best to help me with my question. Yesterday i went out and went for a drink. It was a Little bit dark in the cafe so i didn't noticed a little bit of blood on the glass. After a minute or so when i turned myself in to the light i noticed it. Maybe it was from someone who had a broken lip, i don't know. I bite my lips sometimes to so now i am scared that the blood on the glass can infect me.

When i noticed it i mentioned it to the waither and he said that he didn't see it and that the glass came out of the dish washer. But i don't know it fur sure of course. Can someone tell me if there was a risk?

Greets from A'dam

Sofie (stresskipke)

[Ann]

Sofie,

No, you did not have a risk. 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, such as your glass.

Here's what you need to know in order to remain hiv negative:

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.

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

[flexi]

Ok thanks An, so i understand that if someone who was infected bleed-ed on the glass, the blood was no more infectious when i got it after certainly minutes...

So i didn't need a test or need to watch symptoms of primary HIV infection?

As conclusive are you 100 % sure i can put this behind me?

Thanks!!

Sofie

[Andy Velez]

As Ann has told you, HIV is a fragile virus. It is absolutely not transmitted from environmental surfaces of any kind such as glassware, utensils, food, doorknobs, nicks at the barber shop and other things which people commonly worry about unnecessarily.

There is no need for testing nor for any further concern on your part. 

[flexi]

Hey!

Last time i had i very good answer so i am here again. I work in a sort of cafe/restaurant and my job is to clear the tables and take the dishes to the dishwasher. Its not a nice job i know but its only for the summer and it helps to finance my education here in Amsterdam.

Now for my question, because my hands are a lot in water from the dishes and by cleaning the tables i have some skin that's loose from by my cuticles. Is this a risk for HIV because i come a lot in contact with saliva and other things on the plates. So the question is the loose skin that maybe bleed ed a little a risk with my job?

Thank you

[jkinatl2]

Saliva is not infectious. Blood, when exposed tot he air, is not infectious. PLEASE read out lessons on transmission.

HIV is NOT contagious. What you describe is a contagious disease. HIV is an INFECTIOUS one.

Please re-read Ann's reply again.

[Ann]

flexi,

Did you not bother to read the Transmission Lesson linked to in our Welcome Thread? You're supposed to read that before posting.

If you had bothered to read it, you would have known that saliva is not infectious. You're not going to get hiv because you have dish-pan hands.

Ann

[flexi]

OK sorry but i read ed this in the transmission lesson "HIV enters the body through open cuts, sores, or breaks in the skin". I see the loose skin as a sort break in the skin so that's why i posed the question. So those breaks cuts or sores are something different or must it be direct contact?

and i really don't know the difference between contagious and infectious.

[Ann]

flexi,

If you had a fresh, deep cut and rubbed it with someone else's fresh, deep cut, you might have a problem. But you're not going to get hiv from touching plates, cups, forks or spoons with either blood or saliva on them.

Ann

[flexi]

An,

I see what you mean but i hope you see to that for people like me its difficult to know that. We see only broken skin and sore and then the contact with saliva, blood,... and so i think that it was maybe a risk...

I don't think that my loose skin is a deep cut because most of the time then did not bleed and beneath the loose skin is some other kind of skin and the material i touch is not infectious i understand. I pose this question because maybe in the future i cut myself and if the material i touch is then not infectious i don't need to be scared.

[flexi]

Sorry but for the last time i pose a question because it's not clear in my head. The loose skin around my cuticles did bleed, that i noticed, so is that not a risk?

I am really sorry that i bother you again with this question but i think its important that i can see the difference between a risk situation and a no risk situation.

[Andy Velez]

HIV is a fragile virus. It is not easily transmitted and when exposed to the air very quickly degenerates into a non-viable form. Ann has already contrasted "possible" means of transmission with a wound to the kind of everyday cutickle and nicked skin situation you continue to worry about.

If that kind of very common situation was a risk we would have known about it long before today. You need to let go of this unwarranted concern. Fears and doubts are not facts and there is nothing in HIV science to support your worries.

Frankly, if you continue to return with more but but but and what ifs you are going to find yourself getting a Time Out from the site. You have no grounds for worrying. Really. Whether you accept what we say or not, I can tell you that if there is any cause for concern we would say so.

[flexi]

Thanks for the answers. I overreacted with the cuticles, i know.

Its because the glass with blood on it scares me a lot. I am so scared that the blood from on the glass would get in my cut on my lip from biting on my lip from stress.

I read your answers and i get it that infection can not occur from blood in your mouth because saliva has something that prevent this, ... BUT is this not another story when the blood from on the glass came in contact with my broken lip from biting on it?

[Ann]

flexi,

It's not just the fact that your saliva would protect you, it's also the fact that hiv does not remain infectious when it is outside the body lying around on a glass. It's just not going to happen.

Now give it up before you get a time out. As long as you use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse you will be well protected against hiv infection. It really is that simple.

Ann