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Please explain transmission risk

Dear Dr. Jose;
Please help me clarify the degree of risk in this situation:
Would fingering by an hiv+person with an open cut that is fresh and actively bleeding represent an equally risky situation as unprotected intercourse to “ the fingeree”?
Please correct me if I am wrong, but my reasoning is that it would be equally as risky because blood has a higher concentration of viral load (than semen) and fingering provides direct access of infected blood to the mucous membrane/wall lining of the vagina.
Additionally,  aggressive fingering can tear the wall lining exposing the virus directly into the blood stream.  Wouldn’t this lead to an infection just as likely as contact with ejaculation?
While I know that there have not been any known/reported cases of hiv transmission from fingering,  I am still not convinced that fingering is low risk if blood is indeed present.

The reason that I am concerned is because I developed ARS (fever,rash, oral thrush, fatigue,swollen neck lymph nodes) 2-4 weeks after this type of exposure and the infectous diseases doctor recommended a 6 month follow up test after the exposure.
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1024580 tn?1331574121
You would need significant amount of blood to be at risk.
Regards,
Dr José
Helpful - 1
1024580 tn?1331574121
Hello,
Thank you for your post.
What I do not understand is why someone would finger someone else with a finger that is actively bleeding; and equally why would you allow someone to finger you with a finger that is bleeding.  This does not make much sense.  I assume that you definitely know that this person is HIV positive.  They only way that in theory this situation would be risky is if that person is HIV positive with a high viral load (not on treatment) and is bleeding profusely (large amounts of blood) whilst inside of the vagina, and fingering aggressively.  All of this sounds to me quite unlikely.  Therefore in theory it is possible to become infected that way; however in reality, this does not happen!
One would never have to wait six months to have a conclusive test result.  That advice is outdated.
Best wishes
Dr José
Helpful - 1
Avatar universal
Thank you for the comments.I agree with you that this scenario is unlikely, but I was intoxicated while it happened and cannot clearly recall everything so I am assuming the most extreme case.
I know that there was a small cut in the finger which was bleeding  (not exactly sure how much) and I didn't know the status of the person at the time - only found out afterwards. my main reason for worry were the ars symptoms that followed (especially persistent swollen lymph nodes). So, do you think that if the bleeding was visible but minimal not profuse, there would be no risk?
Helpful - 0

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