POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: marie001 on July 12, 2006, 06:12:24 pm
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Ok, I know this is going to seem totally silly, but I just need some reassurance because a person can certainly confuse themselves by reading all of the different websites about HIV transmission and that scary window period...
First of all, I made out with a guy that I don't know very well for about 10 minutes or so...and I read that prolonged kissing could damage the mouth and allow for blood transmission. (I do remember accidentally knocking teeth with him..)
Second, I don't know why the idea even got put in my head, but I started to really worry about it. At around 10 weeks I got a rapid HIV test at a hospital and the results were negative.
So my question is...can I rely on the 10 week rapid results? Does anyone know about the accuracy of that test and the window period associated with it? Even though my risk is very low, do I even need to be tested again at 12 or 13 weeks? I would really like to not go through all of that again. Thanks for your help! :)
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You were not at risk at all for HIV transmission during your kissing incident. Please read the lesson about transmission which you can link with from the first thread in this section.
Kissing is not a risk for HIV, not even with blood in the mouth. Saliva has an inhibiting element which neutralizes HIV IF it is present.
It's important you know the real risks so that you can protect your health and spare yourself this kind of unnecessary worry.
You don't need to re-test nor was testing necessary at all.
If you had a real risk, which thankfully this wasn't, getting tested at 13 weeks is what the CDC recommends for a reliably negative result.
This time out you're ok.
Cheers,
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Thank you so much for your quick reply...and you're right this was an unnecessary worry, but on the plus side I've learned a lot about HIV and it has made me very aware of the risks and I will always try and protect myself. Thank you so much again! :)
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Ok, I just have to ask one more thing...on the CDC website they say they do not reccomend kissing an HIV positive person because of the risk of blood. Do they just say this to be safe? I mean, they cannot know every situation such as if the person was severely bleeding or something like that...right? I did read that the only documented case of possibly being transmitted through kissing could have been from something else entirely...so that should make me feel better, but I'm just curious to see what you think about that. Thank you and sorry to be a bother about a very low risk thing. Thanks.
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<< Do they just say this to be safe? >>
They say it to be conservative. POlitics plays a key role in the CDC's HIV education. Here and other credible websites go only by first-tiered peer-reviewed scientific data.
I do not for a moment believe that the CDC will update their site anytime soon. This is sad, because it undermines their credibility and makes sites like this one struggle to present the science behind HIV in an accurate form.
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I donīt really know whats happening with me since January when i have kissed a girl with HIV, and i remember she as bad halit at that time, a week later i get the same halit and loose some theets, i know i get lots of things since that day, i know iīm negative till now, but my mouth are becoming lots of worse since that day, gingivitis, now the corners of mouth. So if it is not HIV it could be something related. Could you recommend me something to put in mouth, or corners of mouth. Or could it be candidiasis transmitited by her mouth????
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Scared,
Keep your questions and remarks in your own thread. Do not hijack this one.
Morgan
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Hi,
My boyfriend and I came upon an tractor accident scene where our neighbor was bleeding. My boyfriend helped him up and we took him to his family's house where they took him to the hospital. My boyfriend got a little blood on his arm where there was no cuts. My question is...could he have gotten some blood in his eyes or nose and not known? The man had been there for about twenty minutes so would the blood my boyfriend had come in contact with not have been able to transmit HIV because it had been outside the body?? I'm just a little bit worried about this. Thank you for your help!
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Anybody?
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Blood on intact skin is no risk.
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I just wanted to ask again about the accident scene that my boyfriend and I attended to. I know that the last time I asked about it you said that blood on intact skin is no risk--and I completely agree with that--however, I just can't stop worrying about the possibility that my boyfriend could have wiped his nose or touched his eye, or maybe even some blood got into a cut he could have had on his arms at the time. I know this is just me thinking about all of the "what ifs." But, it just scares me when I read that blood on a cut or mucous membrane could spread HIV. At the time, I wasn't thinking about the possibility of HIV because it was a tramatic accident, and I didn't really look too closely to see if my boyfriend had cuts on his arm. As far as I know, he just got some blood on his arms when he helped the man stand up, and maybe a little on his hands, but he washed it off once we got home. So my question is...since the man had been bleeding for about 20 minutes once we got to the site, does that mean that the blood probably couldn't even transmit it in the first place? I know this probably all seems obsessive, and I'm sorry to keep asking. I would appreciate an experts opinion on this so that I can stop worrying. Thank you.
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There has never been a case of someone getting infected this way, outside the health care field.
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Thank you for your quick reply. But could it still be possible for it to be spread even though it's never happend outside the healthcare field?
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Not in the manner that you suggested.
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I'm really sorry to be asking again, but could someone please explain why it's not possible? It just freaks me out how some websites say it could happen through blood getting on a cut or mucous membrane, and even though I did not notice any of that happen to my boyfriend, I'm just scared of the possibility. Would it be true to say that the blood wouldn't be able to transmit since it had been out of the man for about 20 minutes?? Thank you for your help.
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Are you going to live your life in a bubble? There is no possible way that you can keep from coming in contact with someone elses blood in your life time. Why isn't your boyfriend asking all the questions instead of you? Is it because he isn't concerned because he knew he wasn't at risk? The only way possible for your boyfriend to get HIV in that situation. Is to get a major laceration and come into contact with a person that is HIV positive. You don't even know if the gentleman that your boyfriend helped was positive. If you have that much fear of blood. Seek out the help of a mental health professional.
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Yes, you're right he's not asking these questions because he knows it wouldn't be possible. I'm just a worry wart and I definitely need to come to terms with the fact that I can't be that scared of blood and that it's no way to live life. Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it.