Anxiety over Hiv positive person.

[bigjimp]

Hello. I posted a question in the Hiv section. here it is below. I told my friend about it and she says that Anxiety is my problem.. But up unti this oint I have not really had an anxiety issue.  I just cant get the incident below out of my head. Here is the question.

:Hi I have a question. I read that shaking hands is NOT a method of getting hiv. Well I shoke hands with a person who has hiv and am fearful that I may have been infected. Heres why, I had a chunk of skin missing from the side of my finger and after we shook hands I noticed him biting his fingers. Then shortley after I saw little open cuts on his hands. Pleas eexplain if hiv is in his blood and then gets onto my cut how is this ok? Also, would it have to be a noticible amount of blood. In other words would I have to actually feel a wet glob of blood on my hand or is hiv so microscopic that a speck would be enough to infect. Should I get tested or am I 100 percent in the clear (at least from this exposure)                            I have been told not to get tested and that I can't cath it thi sway. But I feel no better. Do I have a point that if some Blood WAS present that i should be worried. Or do myabe I just have anxiety and I can't let this go. I do tend to stress a littl eover stupid things and maybe this one just really scared me? Any advice on what to do from here. thankyou

[bigjimp]

thankyou

[nursegirl6572]

HIV CANNOT be transmitted casually, through a hand shake, hug, by sharing glasses or utensils....none of those ways.

HIV requires a set of near perfect circumstances to allow for transmission, and it has to occur INSIDE the body, as in unprotected sex.  The only way a "blood to blood" exposure would pose a threat would be in the instance of iv drug users sharing needles.  This is because the blood of the infected person stays preserved inside the bore of the needle because it is not exposed to the elements...and then it is injected directly into  the blood stream.

If you click on my profile, you'll see that I wrote a journal called "HIV The Facts"...I think reading that would be a good idea for you to help you better understand how the virus works.

NO, you absolutely CANNOT get HIV from shaking an infected person's hand, even if there were cuts, abrasions, etc.  End of story.  You do NOT require any kind of testing based on a handshake.