2 independent questions about transmission: sharing needles and virus in mouth

[Maninpanic]

Hi,

I have two honest questions regarding HIV transmission.

1.
The first one came because a friend of mine was getting a tattoo with a machine not properly sterilized (and actually not really cleaned at all).

We can read all around the internet and even in this forum that the virus is weak and does not survive in a hostile environment i.e.: outside the human body. And HIV present blood, semen, and other fluids would die if this fluid is in contact with air...
How is then possible to get infected with a used needle? We know IVDU is a group of very high risk, but how is HIV really transmitted in these cases? is using used needles a risk? or the risk is actually getting the needle immediately after someone used it and also left some of his blood inside?

2.
The second question is regarding probably the most controversial and always asked topic in sexual transmission: oral sex.

It is established that giving oral sex to a positive male is a very low risk.

But, as far as I can read online, the main way in which new-borns from HIV+ mothers are infected is actually through breastfeeding (and avoiding breastfeeding prevents the little ones from getting infected). I also read that from the body-produced-fluids where HIV is present, semen in very high on the list (right after blood) and breast milk is at the very bottom of the list (exactly at the bottom, actually). (with precum being somewhere in the half top of the list, right before or together with vaginal fluids)

So, putting fluids with higher VL (semen, precum) in your mouth is a low risk, while putting fluids with low VL (breast milk) is a very high risk?
How does this actually work?

My shot in the dark would be to say that the baby is way more exposed and unprotected, didn't developed many of the very basic defenses the body uses in general... but it’s really funded on nothing.




cheers

[Jim Allen]

This is not a prevention question at all and relates back to your irrational concerns and transmission concerns.
https://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=68455.msg738475#msg738475

Please do not post here again.

1)
Don't share drug rigs or syringes - simple

In short the reason sharing syringes is a blood risk is it's directly injecting a quantity of blood (backwash) into the blood stream that has been short term stored in what is in essence a vacuum. A sharp object, needle, lancet or pin as examples on the other hand are nothing like an infection from a syringe, there is no backwash stored in a vacuum and no more than a drop of blood that is exposed to the environment.

HIV is far to fragile to survive in the small blood sample on a lancet/pin or tip of a sharp object like a needle as once it is exposed outside the human body to the environment and once hiv finds itself exposed outside the body, small changes in temperature, pH / moisture levels  damage the outer receptors that the virus uses to infect human cells and thus renders it unable to infect.


2)
Its not controversial at all,  stop reading dribble or things out of context.

Giving a BJ is a near negligible risk, as explained already in your assessment. The virus is very fragile, and your mouth has dozens of protein and enzymes that damage the virus and render it unable to infect. Also the adult mouth without damage simply lacks the route / cells for HIV to infect.

Getting a BJ is no HIV risk whatsoever and nobody has even been infected from getting his penis sucked.

Breast feeding is not even in the same league as giving a BJ ... You are not an infant, and this is not a transmission risk to adults. Our immune systems are different and so is the tissue in our mouths. Why this concerns you i don't know, you are not a HIV positive mother and you are not breastfeeding.

As for vaginal fluids see the fluid a woman produces when sexually excited comes from the Bartholin's glands, this is a lubricating fluid and does not have any more hiv present than other bodily secretions such as saliva, sweat or tears.

Saliva, sweat and tears are not infectious fluids. What has been proven is hiv is present at infectious levels in the cervicovaginal fluid, this is far higher up.

Jim