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Sharing hospital room(double bed) with HIV+ patient
Dear Sir/Madam,
I'm a 28 years old male. I have the following HIV question.
I was warded at a private hospital for a colonoscopy procedure on 14th-Nov and was admitted one day before on 13th-Nov.
I was sharing a room with another patient(age 38/male) who had already been in the room for 5-6 days berfore my admission.
After the colonoscopy procedure I was brought back to the same room on 14-th Nov and was resting in my bed.
Around that time, the doctor who was treating the other patient(a geriatrician I guess) was in discussion with patient's sister about his health condition and they were talking in Mandarin. To my surprise, during the conversation I overheard the term 'HIV' being mentioned throughout the discussion even though I was a bit drowsy after the colonoscopy procedure.
I was a bit disturbed with the term 'HIV' and slowly approached few staff nurses and asked them whether they were aware about the other patient's status. Some them said yes and I asked further why I was warded to share the room with him if they knew the status earlier. I got shocked and felt very devastated and requested the staff nurses whether I could talk to their supervisor or matron.
Reason being, I have been using the same toilet and sink whole night(13-Nov to 14-Nov) for more than 10-15 times to clean my stools before the colonoscopy procedure. I know that the risk of HIV infection by sharing same toilet with HIV patient is low but I don't want to take any risk with any type of exposures accidentally.
Later after 20 mins the matron came over to me and we had a discussion about the whole thing. I shared my concerns and worries with her. She shared that should know very much as the risk is low. She also advised me to check further with my doc on this. She also explained that HIV patients should be treated as normal patients as well. I totally agreed with her explanation and fully aware that it's their rights to be treated equally as other patients. But I also felt that I should not have been given a room to be shared with HIV patient whose status was clearly known.
Then later on the same day I meet my doc who performed the colonoscopy and he shared the colonoscopy results with me and it was good.
Then, I asked the doc about the HIV patient sharing same room with me and he said I should not worry much as the infection risk of sharing same room and toilet is very low.
I got back home and rested. But today, I still have the HIV anxiety on going in my mind because I never had experienced this type of incident and it happened at hospital environment. How nice it would have been if I was given a room with a person who is not a HIV+ person.
The anxiety starts to make me feel so stressed and I'm having hard time to control it.
A lot of what if questions(as below) are running in my mind now. That's why I'm writing this email to you at least to share the details and looking for some advice from your end on the next steps.
1. What if there were some blood stains in toilet door or sink tab when I used for my stool business? Am I at any risk?
2. I've been picking my nose during the nights and what if I had blood stains in my hand from the door or sink closets and some how the blood touched my nose mucus membranes? Am I at any risk?
3. This one very tough! Very sorry to be very direct on this but this is what keep bugging my mind now.
The patient was very sick and he was not that communicative and he was a bit disturbed mentally as well. I guess he already knew his HIV status even before being warded at the hospital. I'm worried if he would have been in a mental state that could harm others to overcome his inner sufferings like contaminating my toothbrush or spit blood/semen in my food when I was not around. Because whenever the foods were served on both days, I was away most of the time. What if he did something that unimaginable to harm others in this manner? Does food with HIV blood or semen pose any risk of infection? Does blood in toothbrush pose any risk? Am I at any risk?
I need some guidance/advice and support on this matter.
And I've been a regular blood donor twice/thrice a year and my next donation plan will be in Dec 2018.
Not sure whether I should proceed with the plan since I have these concerns.
Should I get tested for above mentioned HIV risks?
I'm a 28 years old male. I have the following HIV question.
I was warded at a private hospital for a colonoscopy procedure on 14th-Nov and was admitted one day before on 13th-Nov.
I was sharing a room with another patient(age 38/male) who had already been in the room for 5-6 days berfore my admission.
After the colonoscopy procedure I was brought back to the same room on 14-th Nov and was resting in my bed.
Around that time, the doctor who was treating the other patient(a geriatrician I guess) was in discussion with patient's sister about his health condition and they were talking in Mandarin. To my surprise, during the conversation I overheard the term 'HIV' being mentioned throughout the discussion even though I was a bit drowsy after the colonoscopy procedure.
I was a bit disturbed with the term 'HIV' and slowly approached few staff nurses and asked them whether they were aware about the other patient's status. Some them said yes and I asked further why I was warded to share the room with him if they knew the status earlier. I got shocked and felt very devastated and requested the staff nurses whether I could talk to their supervisor or matron.
Reason being, I have been using the same toilet and sink whole night(13-Nov to 14-Nov) for more than 10-15 times to clean my stools before the colonoscopy procedure. I know that the risk of HIV infection by sharing same toilet with HIV patient is low but I don't want to take any risk with any type of exposures accidentally.
Later after 20 mins the matron came over to me and we had a discussion about the whole thing. I shared my concerns and worries with her. She shared that should know very much as the risk is low. She also advised me to check further with my doc on this. She also explained that HIV patients should be treated as normal patients as well. I totally agreed with her explanation and fully aware that it's their rights to be treated equally as other patients. But I also felt that I should not have been given a room to be shared with HIV patient whose status was clearly known.
Then later on the same day I meet my doc who performed the colonoscopy and he shared the colonoscopy results with me and it was good.
Then, I asked the doc about the HIV patient sharing same room with me and he said I should not worry much as the infection risk of sharing same room and toilet is very low.
I got back home and rested. But today, I still have the HIV anxiety on going in my mind because I never had experienced this type of incident and it happened at hospital environment. How nice it would have been if I was given a room with a person who is not a HIV+ person.
The anxiety starts to make me feel so stressed and I'm having hard time to control it.
A lot of what if questions(as below) are running in my mind now. That's why I'm writing this email to you at least to share the details and looking for some advice from your end on the next steps.
1. What if there were some blood stains in toilet door or sink tab when I used for my stool business? Am I at any risk?
2. I've been picking my nose during the nights and what if I had blood stains in my hand from the door or sink closets and some how the blood touched my nose mucus membranes? Am I at any risk?
3. This one very tough! Very sorry to be very direct on this but this is what keep bugging my mind now.
The patient was very sick and he was not that communicative and he was a bit disturbed mentally as well. I guess he already knew his HIV status even before being warded at the hospital. I'm worried if he would have been in a mental state that could harm others to overcome his inner sufferings like contaminating my toothbrush or spit blood/semen in my food when I was not around. Because whenever the foods were served on both days, I was away most of the time. What if he did something that unimaginable to harm others in this manner? Does food with HIV blood or semen pose any risk of infection? Does blood in toothbrush pose any risk? Am I at any risk?
I need some guidance/advice and support on this matter.
And I've been a regular blood donor twice/thrice a year and my next donation plan will be in Dec 2018.
Not sure whether I should proceed with the plan since I have these concerns.
Should I get tested for above mentioned HIV risks?
Erm. The thing u need to know is that hiv is not spread that easily. Only through sex and needle. You shouldn't be worrying excessively.
Honestly, you literally have nothing to worry about. Nothing that you described is any risk for infection. As long as you didn't engage in unprotected anal or vaginal sex with this person and you didn't share needles to inject drugs into your veins, nothing else would lead to infection. You can share a room and a toilet and eating and drinking utensils with an HIV positive person and none of those will lead to infection. You're completely fine and have nothing at all to worry about.
3 Comments
Which country are you from? The doctor and nurse gave you dumb advice by scaring you when they told you it is low risk, but the reality is impossible as everyone here said.
Thanks for the sharing Chima7 & AnxiousNoMore. I realy your great help and support in this forum. I'm from Malaysia and this would be my first time using this forum and still in learning mode.
And, yesterday I posted an additional question regarding ear/tympanic thermometer infection risk in this thread. I guess some how the post was deleted after it appeared for few minutes. Would like to know whether it got deleted because of it's irrelevancy or due to some other reasons. Please forgive me if the post was not described in right/correct manner and it may have offended the forum users. I just would like to know whether I did anything wrong with the post.
And, yesterday I posted an additional question regarding ear/tympanic thermometer infection risk in this thread. I guess some how the post was deleted after it appeared for few minutes. Would like to know whether it got deleted because of it's irrelevancy or due to some other reasons. Please forgive me if the post was not described in right/correct manner and it may have offended the forum users. I just would like to know whether I did anything wrong with the post.
Your government must be paranoid about hiV, if they make docs give you advice like that. We rely on the opinion of expert doctors who would never give you that nutty advice you received from the doc and nurse.
You have absolutely no reason to be sorry for asking a simple question. NO one is mad at you other than one random poster so really, no worries. This is a forum to ask your questions and to educate people and all types of questions are welcome. So, please do not let that response deter you from asking things. Really, that IS the point of this forum.
So, HIV is a sexually transmitted disease The only way that someone gets HIV is from having unprotected vaginal or anal sex or sharing IV drug needles. That's really it. The doctors misspoke when they said 'low' risk as the risk is zero from the situation you describe. As stated, air inactivates the virus. Any blood you see has been exposed to air so is not going to have the virus in it. Hey, even if you had sex with the guy in the bed next to you, a one time sexual encounter has a low transmission rate of 1%. So, there is no worry about your risk of HIV from sharing this hospital room. This was a good question. I'm sure many wonder and in many places, hiv education is scarce.
Glad your colonoscopy results were clear.
So, HIV is a sexually transmitted disease The only way that someone gets HIV is from having unprotected vaginal or anal sex or sharing IV drug needles. That's really it. The doctors misspoke when they said 'low' risk as the risk is zero from the situation you describe. As stated, air inactivates the virus. Any blood you see has been exposed to air so is not going to have the virus in it. Hey, even if you had sex with the guy in the bed next to you, a one time sexual encounter has a low transmission rate of 1%. So, there is no worry about your risk of HIV from sharing this hospital room. This was a good question. I'm sure many wonder and in many places, hiv education is scarce.
Glad your colonoscopy results were clear.
1) no risk. Virus degrades quickly. It cant enter you from nowhere
2) virus doesnt live long outside host
3) no risk
You are the one who is paranoid. I am very angry. This is why the world have Heavy stigma for hiv. If hiv is spread as easily as you have said, everyone in the world would have gotten hiv.
2) virus doesnt live long outside host
3) no risk
You are the one who is paranoid. I am very angry. This is why the world have Heavy stigma for hiv. If hiv is spread as easily as you have said, everyone in the world would have gotten hiv.
1 Comments
Thanks for the reply biology2017. Sorry if i made you angry. I need to crosscheck on this as I'm having anxiety after knowing I was warded with HIV+ patient. Will try my level best to educate myself. Thanks again.
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