POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: JEAN on September 03, 2008, 08:57:31 am
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Hello All
Actually I m half French half Lebanese so excuse me for my poor English.
Two days ago I was at my office and during the lunch break my colleague was playing with a cutter “ knife “ and suddenly he cuts his finger , so I tried to help him buy giving tissue and some bandage but accidently and after few seconds the knife go down from the table and hit me on my arm , the top part of my arm not near vein , so I had a small cut like around 2 mm red but not bleeding , I m not sure of my friend HIV status .
Before sending you any post I tried to read old archive and lessons and I was confused buy this contradiction of info, on the lesson you are saying “ that some healthcare worker were infected buy needles and Sharpe instruments containing HIV blood “ and on the forums you are saying that HIV is a fragile virus difficult to live outside body !
Please if possible to explain and to tell me if I was at Risk.
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I appreciate your confusion and concern. At the same time I want to reassure that yours not an incident which put you at risk for HIV transmission.
HIV IS a fragile virus and not easily transmitted outside of very specific settings such as unprotected vaginal or anal sex. Those healthcare-related incidents of transmission, have been relatively few over the years considering how much work is done with needles and needle punctures and/or sharp instruments occuring.
I have never known in more than 20 years of working in the epidemic for transmission to occur in the kind of incident you are reporting in a non-medical setting. I would say no risk even if your friend is HIV+. It just doesn't happen that way and especially as how you have described the incident.
I don't see any need for testing nor for further concern on your part.
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Dear Andy
Thank You for your prompt reply
did u take into consideration the fresh blood on the knife and that i was hit by the knife maybe less then 2 seconds after my friend accident?
does really hiv is so fragil to resist outside the human body and hiv need some special cells present on the rectum and vagina?
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Yes, I did take all of the facts into consideration. From your kind of accident and things like street fights with mutually bloody hands and sometimes knives I've never known of transmission to occur.
There are cells in the vagina, the foreskin of the penis and in the urethra which are specifically receptive to transmission. There's no such cell structure on your ordinary skin surface including your arm as contrasted with a needle puncture or other something penetrating the body, particularly in a healthcare setting or through IV drug use.
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so i m in peace
Thank You
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so i m in peace
Thank You
That's a good thing. I am glad you found our exchange to be helpful.
Cheers,
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Dear Andy
Sorry for bothering you again , but today when i woke up and during my shower i mentioned 2 big red inflate blotches on my skin one on my hands and the other on my leg , it s the first time that i have such blotches , so agin i m afaid now , please tell me what to do?
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If you have a concern see a dermatologist. They have nothing to do with HIV.
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And every once in a while something else may happen on or to your body. That will not change the fact that you did not have a risk and will not by default automatically mean it's about HIV. That's just your mind getting nervous. Really.
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Hope That
Thank You & Wish You The Best
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sorry sirs
i know that i m losing ur time and somebody else need ur answers , but i really beleive on your site and i can feel that you answers are based on a good experience.
please tell me the difference between being injected by a needle " HIV RISK " and get a knife cut " NO RISK " knowing that both are blood to blood contact
Some sites said that HIV survive minutes outside body and have a knife cut is a risk .
please need a clear explination , knowing that it s difficult in our countries to have any HIV advice without some troubles , any qst concerning HIV mean automaticly that you are infected.
please an answer
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The knife was exposed to air, temp change and Ph changes. Needles with syringes are not. Simple as that.
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Dears
But if as i was reading HIV can survive for minutes outside body so i m at risk , because a had a cut maybe 2 seconds after my friend cut
Ohhh my God i tried always to take the safe side by not having an actif sexual life , and i ll be infected buy this stupid way ?
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Seek professional mental help for your unwarranted worries. You are beyond the scope of help that we can provide.
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dear
please try to help me by answering me and don't ask me to seek a mental help!
there is sites saying that HIV can survive outside body for minutes , in this case i have a risk ??? specialy that some site ask people in my case to make the 3 months test !
please don't be agresive and explain my case Scientifically i m high educate and i have knoledge in biologie si i can understand
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any reply plz
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You do not have a risk.
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i really appreciate your reply , but any Scientifical explination ?!
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From the most conservative of all websites, the CDC:
Scientists and medical authorities agree that HIV does not survive well outside the body, making the possibility of environmental transmission remote. HIV is found in varying concentrations or amounts in blood, semen, vaginal fluid, breast milk, saliva, and tears. To obtain data on the survival of HIV, laboratory studies have required the use of artificially high concentrations of laboratory-grown virus. Although these unnatural concentrations of HIV can be kept alive for days or even weeks under precisely controlled and limited laboratory conditions, CDC studies have shown that drying of even these high concentrations of HIV reduces the amount of infectious virus by 90 to 99 percent within several hours. Since the HIV concentrations used in laboratory studies are much higher than those actually found in blood or other specimens, drying of HIV-infected human blood or other body fluids reduces the theoretical risk of environmental transmission to that which has been observed - essentially zero. Incorrect interpretations of conclusions drawn from laboratory studies have in some instances caused unnecessary alarm.
Results from laboratory studies should not be used to assess specific personal risk of infection because (1) the amount of virus studied is not found in human specimens or elsewhere in nature, and (2) no one has been identified as infected with HIV due to contact with an environmental surface. Additionally, 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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Last Modified: October 20, 2006
Last Reviewed: October 20, 2006
Please pay careful attention to the bolded section in red. I added the color and the bold to show you how no one has, to date, ever been confirmed as having gotten HIV from an environmental surface.
The notion of getting HIV through skin has been debunked since the early 1990's. It is a shame that some web sites have not updated their information to be current. But some do not, either out of sheer laziness or a desire to instill unnecessary and unfounded fear.
You did not, will not get HIV from your experience. The sciences of biology and epidemiology support this fact.
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thanxs jkinatl2
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pllllllllllllllllllllllzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz helppppppp !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i have a big very big red blot on my skin a red one with white skin on it,it s about 8 cm , is it HIV symptoms ?:((
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Jean
You have been told by the experts that you didn't have a risk..trust them and move on, if you are having problems with "blotches" on your skin go and see you Doctor.
You were not put at risk..this is not an HIV risk situation.
Infected blood has to get into the blood stream and has to penetrate quite a few layers of skin to do this, a needle stick injury and a small cut to the finger are two very different things.
Jan
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so it s not a matter that HIV die outside body ? it s a matter of skin layers ? so how can i know that the knife did not penetrate the layer of infection ?
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Jean,
You did not have a risk for hiv infection. You've been told this repeatedly.
If you've read the Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=220.0) like you're supposed to, you will have read the followng:
Anyone who continues to post excessively, questioning a conclusive negative result or no-risk situation, will be subject to a four week Time Out (a temporary ban from the Forums). If you continue to post excessively after one Time Out, you may be given a second Time Out which will last eight weeks. There is no third Time Out - it is a permanent ban. The purpose of a Time Out is to encourage you to seek the face-to-face help we cannot provide on this forum.
Please consider yourself warned.
Ann
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OK, Jean. Enough is enough. We've been very clear and detailed in our responses to you. After some of them you are briefly calmed until you get the next burst of fear or ll-founded piece of (mis)information you pick up on the web or wherever.
It's not our job to answer each of those fears in perpetuity. You are free to accept what we say or not. If you find other information or responses elsewhere to your satisfaction, that's fine.
But you will not be permitted to return here indefinitely with your latest symptom complaint or fear. If you come back with more of the same you're going to get a time out, so consider yourself warned.
Discuss your symptoms with your doctor. And your HIV fears? Well, you've already indicated you don't want to be told to see a therapist or other such professional so you solve your problem however you choose.
We've done what we can do for you here.
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Dear All
Please nderstand my fears and don't give me a time out !
i got this text from CDC websire :
Households
Although HIV has been transmitted between family members in a household setting, this type of transmission is very rare. These transmissions are believed to have resulted from contact between skin or mucous membranes and infected blood. To prevent even such rare occurrences, precautions, as described in previously published guidelines, should be taken in all settings "including the home" to prevent exposures to the blood of persons who are HIV infected, at risk for HIV infection, or whose infection and risk status are unknown.
isn't my case??!
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No it isn't your case as the above quote is not fact either.
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Jean,
NO! It's nothing to do with you. The cases the CDC are talking about are YEARS old and never proven.
I'm giving you that time out I warned you about. Do not attempt to create a new account to get around your time out or you willl be permanently banned.
Ann