POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: aussiet on May 19, 2009, 06:39:57 pm
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Hi, a couple of questions
i am thinking of going to the local GP 8 months after an unprotected incident for a HIV test. The procedure being that he will collect a blood sample, store it and have it collected by a courier some time later to be transported to the lab for testing. I understand HIV to be a fragile virus that only survives under certain conditions, does the time lag from collection of the blood to the time it arrives at the lab for testing compromise the accuracy of the test?
Also, can 8 months be too long for an accurate HIV test? I ask because i have read that after a while some verry fit people with HIV return tests with HIV at an undectible level.
Thank you
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No, it does not compromise the sample. Just because someones viral load is undetectable doesn't mean they aren't positive.
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Thanks, but i keep coming across literature that says the virus doesnt survive long in the environment. If you think of the logistics, a blood sample may take a few days before it is tested. Wouldnt the virus have died by then?
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The virus doesn't have to be active to test.
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so how long can blood be in a test tube and still return an accurate test
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Considering they have tested blood back to the 1950's and found a man positive. It can be many years.
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aussie,
The hiv test does not look for hiv itself, it looks for hiv antibodies. Antibodies are something that your own body produces in response to a foreign invader.
I don't understand why you don't just go for a rapid test where you can have your results in 20 minutes. They're readily available in Australia.
And for the record, 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 all three 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.
Ann
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Hi
i went to visit the optomotrist yesterday and she took out my contacts and inserted new ones. I am freaking out because she was not wearing gloves. I did not notice if she was bleeding but if she was is it possible for a small amount of blood to be transmitted from her finger onto the lens then my eyes.
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No need for thr sarcasm. if she was bleeding and blood came into my eye via her finger , why wouldnt there be a risk?
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I dont think i am worrying needlessly, i am freaking out over the incident. she had no gloves on, she could have been bleeding from the finger!
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You don't contract HIV from contacts or any other environmental surfaces.
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auss,
I've merged your new thread into your original thread - where you should post all your additional thoughts or questions. It helps us to help you when you keep all your additional thoughts or questions in one thread.
If you need help finding your thread when you come here, click on the "Show own posts" link under your name in the left-hand column of any forum page.
Please also read through the Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=220.0) so you can familiarize yourself with our Forum Posting Guidelines. Thank you for your cooperation.
You can't seriously believe that an eye doctor would stick their finger in your eye if it was bleeding? Come on man, that is simply irrational.
It sounds to me like you're developing an hiv phobia. I suggest you book an appointment with a mental health therapist before this takes over your life.
You absolutely did NOT have a risk in this situation. Come back with more of this irrational scenario and you'll be given a time out. Please consider yourself warned.
Ann
PS - And speaking of warnings, nycpoz and worried boy, check your PMs. I've warned both of you about posting replies in this forum. Don't do it again. Thank you for your cooperation.
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hi, my cousin who has had unprotected sex recently was having dinner with us. i dont know his HIV status but lets assume he is positive. he used his fork to share some of my food. if there was some of his blood on the fork left on my food which i then ate why couldnt i be infected?
at first i didnt consider it an issue but then i was reading where some indian mothers fed their babies pre chewed food which led to them getting hiv, so it can be passed on by food.
im freaking out.
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Aus,
Once again, I've merged your new thread into your original thread - where you should post all your additional thoughts or questions. It helps us to help you when you keep all your additional thoughts or questions in one thread.
If you need help finding your thread when you come here, click on the "Show own posts" link under your name in the left-hand column of any forum page.
Please also read through the Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=220.0) so you can familiarize yourself with our Forum Posting Guidelines. Thank you for your cooperation.
Hiv cannot be passed on through food, eating utensils, cups, glasses or plates. The study about pre-chewed foods and INFANTS has nothing to do with this. Not only is saliva not infectious, but it also contains over a dozen different proteins and enzymes that damage hiv and render it unable to infect.
As for blood in food, once hiv is outside the human body, small changes in temperature and pH and moisture levels all quickly damage hiv and again, render it unable to infect. Not one person has ever been infected through food and you won't be the first.
Once again, it sounds as though you have developed an hiv phobia. This forum is not the place for you to deal with that. You need to see a therapist face-to-face and the sooner, the better by the sounds of it.
For you, as an adult, the only things you need to be doing to protect your negative hiv status is 1 - never share injecting equipment to inject street drugs and 2 - use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently. It really is that simple.
Keep coming here with things that aren't even a remote risk for hiv and you'll be given a time out. Again, consider yourself warned.
Ann
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Thanks Ann
i agree that i have a phobia of sorts. At one level i can step back and see how far fetched and crazy my fears are, but then all sorts of 'what if' scenarious go on in my head which send me into a state of panic.
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The risks and non-risks have been explained to you. If you have a phobia about HIV that is something for you to discuss in a professional setting. We can't help you to resolve that here other than by having told you about the real risks (unprotected vaginal and anal intercourse) and the non-risks or theoretical ones.
I will say you can't keep coming back here and expecting us to respond everytime you have another burst of anxiety over some what if situation. You'll end up getting a 28 day time out for that kind of thing.
See a counselor or other professional to deal with your unwarranted fears.
Cheers.
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I understand that if a mosquitoe bites you it injects its saliva and cant transmit HIV, but what if you squash it before it bites and it is carrying blood from an HIV person that was bitten, is the blood infectious. I am concerned because i squashed a mosquitoe then touched the inside of my nostril which was bleeding.
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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.
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aus,
You've already been told that when hiv finds itself outside the human body, small changes in the environment damage it and render it unable to infect. And this includes being inside a bug.
Your needs are obviously outside the scope of this forum. Please seek help for your hiv phobia in the more appropriate setting of a therapist's office. We can do nothing more for you here.
I'm giving you that time out you've been warned about. Do not attempt to create a new account to get around your time out because if you do, you will be permanently banned. Please use your time out time to book an appointment with a therapist.
Ann
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my cousin lives with us and sleeps around alot without protection, so his hiv status is questionable. He hugs and kisses my kids on the cheek alot. I dont normally worry because i understand saliva is not infectious, but blood is. I am freaking out about and incident that happenned on the weekend. My cousin cut his bottom lip deeply while shaving and it took a long time to stop bleeding. Not long after he kissed my girl on the cheeks. She has a flesh wound on her face which may have been a popped pimple or a scratch from her baby sister. probably a damaged pimple. I suppose it could be classed as an open wound. Would she be at risk if we assume that when my cousing kissed her a drop of his blood touched her wound. I am really worried and would appreciate more than a yes or no answer.
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found this on the cdc website
"Health-Care Worker 2: A female phlebotomist was filling a 10 ml vacuum blood collection tube with blood from an outpatient with a suspected HIV infection when the top of the tube flew off and blood splattered around the room, on her face, and in her mouth. She was wearing gloves to protect her hands and was wearing eyeglasses so she did not think she got any blood in her eyes. She had facial acne but no open wounds. She washed the blood off immediately after the exposure. The outpatient's blood sample was positive for HIV antibody by EIA and Western blot, and a hepatitis B surface antigen test was negative. The phlebotomist's EIA was negative the day after the incident and again 8 weeks later. When she donated blood 9 months after the exposure, she was positive for HIV antibody by EIA and Western blot (bands p24 and gp41). She has had no symptoms. She denied having any sexual contact during the previous 2 years,ever using drugs intravenously, or ever receiving a transfusion. Two months after the incident, she scratched the back of her hand with a needle used to draw blood from an intravenous drug abuser of unknown HIV-antibody status. She did not bleed as a result of the scratch and has not had any needle-stick injuries in over 2 years. Her serologic tests for syphilis and hepatitis B were negative. A coworker who was splattered with blood on the face and in the mouth during the same incident remains seronegative 1 year after the incident."
looks like she got hiv from a splash of blood on her acne which was intact. yet it is said you cant get it through intact skin, or is acne classed as a membrane and not skin?
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You are HIV-phobic. That's really the core issue in what your latest entry and in your previous ones. You don't have to like hearing this, but your latest "risk scenario" regarding your daughter's cheek and your cousin's shaving cut is just ridiculous.
Further, that case you cite from CDC does not conclusively prove nor state the cause of the healthworker's infection.
But you know what, we're not here to argue with you and persuade you each time you come up with another scare case is something about which you're worrying needlessly. HIV is a fragile virus and is not easily transmitted, your fears notwithstanding.
You are long overdue to spend some time with a counselor or other professional to discuss your unwarranted level of fear about HIV. That is a problem we cannot resolve for your here.
Your latest concern has no validity in HIV science. If you continue to come up with this sort of thing I can tell you that you will very quickly earn yourself another Time Out here.
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Hi
i have a question that i woluld appreciate a answer to.
i was having vietnamese noodles today and the waiter served me some red chillie sauce in a small bowl. the waiter was a suspicious looking character. after a few minutes i dipped the beef in the sauce. i did this a few times. would the few minutes have been enough time for hiv virus to die if it was in the chilli, assuming there was lots of blood mixed with the sauce.
thanks.
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Seek professional mental help.
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OK. You've earned yourself a 28 day Time Out with this latest fanciful what if scenario of yours.
Don't make the mistake of trying to get around the ban by creating a new name for yourself. We always spot those and doing so would get you permanently banned from the site.
If you are really troubled with these thoughts about HIV, then get yourself to a counselor or other professional to get help with this issue. That's something we cannot address in this setting.
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ignore
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Please keep all your thoughts questions and comments in your original thread. (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=27217.0) This helps us follow your story and give you the most accurate advice.
If you cannot find your original thread, please click the red link I have posted above. Alternatively you can use the "Show own posts" link which appears in the uppermost left hand column on any forum page.
Your questions will not be answered unless you return to your original thread
Please take the time to read our Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=220.0) and familiarise yourself with the posting guidelines.
MtD
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Hi
we all know that in its early days many people were infected from blood transfussions, thankfully, that is not the case today. We are often told that HIV becomes non infectious very quickly when outside the body because of changes in temperature, light, PH levels etc.
When blood was collected in the past it was not kept at body temperature, it was kept in coolers, how were people infected when the temperature of the blood changed so drastically and kept for days or longer before being used on patients?
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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.
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i think it is a legitimate question for educational purposes. If you cant answer it just say so.
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Here is a relevant link:
http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/InSite?page=kb-07-02-09#S2X (http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/InSite?page=kb-07-02-09#S2X)
I do not mean to be brusque, but is this query related in any way to your issue regarding HIV? While on occasions many moderators and members here entertain purely educational conversation, it has been my experience that questions like this, especially so closely related to an irrational fear of HIV (such as becoming infected through food) indicate a reluctance to accept the well-grounded transmission risks for HIV. Our Transmissions lessons were crafted over the course of many years, and are as thorough as you are likely to find on the topic.
Once can hardly compare the extrication of blood via a sterile needle into a protected, anaerobic environment, followed by careful storage and ultimately re-insertion directly into the bloodstream and infectious fluid on or in food or beverages.
I sincerely hope that you discuss this irrational fear of HIV infection with a professional who is trained in helping people overcome it. Sadly, this fear lies beyond the scope of this forum, and I personally believe that these conversations seem to be prolonging your distress rather than alleviating it.
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Once again I have merged your threads. You've repeatedly started new threads in the past and been told not to do that. You are supposed to keep all of your entries in this same thread.
More importantly, you continue to return again and again with what are clearly non-risk situations which have been well explained as such to you. You've had two Time Outs. A third one will get you banned permanently from the site. So you need to take this warning seriously. You have been given enough information now to know what is a genuine risk and what isn't.
We cannot provide you with the kind of help you need to address your unwarranted and excessive fears about HIV. Do yourself a favor and get some professional help with that.
Consider yourself warned.