POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: ma143 on September 26, 2012, 11:50:38 am
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Hi All,
I am very much worried with one of my exposure as follows:-
I fingered a sex worked with finger with peeled skin and scratches. It was also having unhealed small cut of 10 mins ago. Now I am concerned that HIV may enter through the unhealed cut..
Please give some advise. Sometimes they say that it is no risk, but I would like to know why HIV does not get a path through small finger ut which was just bleeding..
Thanks in advance.
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There is absolutely NO RISK in fingering,even with recent cuts and bitten cuticles.
HIV cannot just "enter the bloodstream" like some swimming fish. It really needs to be injected there, and even then, it requires specific cells to latch onto, cells that you won't find just anywhere in your body.
Moreover, the fluids you encounter during fingering (or giving a woman oral sex for that matter) are not infectious. The infectious area of the female body would be far deeper, in the thick mucousal cervical fluids you only encounter during unprotected vaginal sex. And in unprotected vaginal sex, your urethra - the hole at the end of your penis - is the vulerable area. It contains specific cells that HIV can infect. Your finger does not.
I certainly hope that clears things up a little. You have not had an HIV risk. If you wear a condom correctly and consistently for vaginal sex, you can avoid HIV. It really is that simple.
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Thanks mate,
Just wanted to know that which cell you are reffering and which area of our body does have these cell? When a finger cuts the inner cells gets exposed..is not that cell infectous ?
Please clarify.
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Thanks mate,
Just wanted to know that which cell you are reffering and which area of our body does have these cell? When a finger cuts the inner cells gets exposed..is not that cell infectous ?
Please clarify.
HIV enters CD4 and certain types of dendritic cells. None of these are found on the skin, and with shallow cuts, the healing process which you might not even notice prevents further pathogenic activity by forming strong impermeable barriers. Of course, if you are a hemophelieac, these barriers might not form. Though I imagine you would have let us knw if you were a hemophelieac, or if the cut on your finger was so deep as to expose muscle, fat tissue and bone. In those latter events, I imagine that fingering the genitals of another would take a back seat to a trip to the hospital.
In the recorded history of the pandemic, not a single case of HIV transmission has been traced to acts such as fingering, kissing, frottage, or any of the other activitie which we label "safer sex."
You do not get HIV from fingering, no matter what spin is put on the scenario.
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Thanks..
But still I am not understanding the logic you guys are putting.
Is this because of the fact that no one got infected in this manner?
See I just want to know if there is small tiny unhealed cut, peeled skin, then why that cut is not considered as pathways for HIV..will the virus not mixed with blood and finds a path to blood stream.
PLease provide me a valid scientific reason..
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See I just want to know if there is small tiny unhealed cut, peeled skin, then why that cut is not considered as pathways for HIV..will the virus not mixed with blood and finds a path to blood stream.
Hiv can only infect a very few, very specific types of cells and these cells are not found on the surface of the skin, nor are they found in small cuts.
As Jonathan tried to explain, if your cut was the type that could allow hiv infection, you would have been on your way to a hospital to get it sewn up. You would not be using that cut finger to finger anyone.
The areas of a man's body where the correct types of cells that hiv can infect are found in the lining of the anus, the lining of the urethra (where you pee from) and on the inner lining of the foreskin (the part you cannot see when the penis is not erect and the foreskin is covering the head of the penis). This is why all you need to do to avoid hiv is to use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse.
If we thought you had a risk for hiv infection, we would tell you and advise you to test. You have NOT had a risk for hiv infection.
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 FOR HIV SPECIFICALLY OVER FINGERING, 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. Some of the other STIs can be present with no obvious symptoms, so the only way to know for sure is to test.
Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, and you will avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple!
Ann