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HIV Anxiety
I have posted in HIV prevention and was told i held no risk of HIV.For some reason my brain does nt wanna accept this answer!My fear was that i touched a door handle with my sleeve and the door handle was wet. If this was blood it had contact with the cuts on my hand.Any advice or suggestions please.I dont know how long the blood was there for.Thank-you
The only way people can get infected through their eyes is in a healthcare setting: an artery splashes DIRECTLY into a surgeon's eyes. I will repeat one more time: HIV is NOT transmitted from person A --> inanimate object --> person B. It must be DIRECT: person A --> person B.
Your concerns fall in the "obsessive-phobic" end of the spectrum of questions that we see on the HIV forums. It isn't normal to be so concerned about HIV from such an ordinary event. And your 'research' into HIV on the Internet is not going to assuage your concerns- it will make them worse. If you can't stop ruminating about HIV, you may want to consider speaking with a mental health professional to determine whether you have an underlying health obsession or phobia.
Your concerns fall in the "obsessive-phobic" end of the spectrum of questions that we see on the HIV forums. It isn't normal to be so concerned about HIV from such an ordinary event. And your 'research' into HIV on the Internet is not going to assuage your concerns- it will make them worse. If you can't stop ruminating about HIV, you may want to consider speaking with a mental health professional to determine whether you have an underlying health obsession or phobia.
Thanks for the reply. I do feel a bit better, although i was on a site yesterday and it mentioned if the blood came in contacts with my eyes etc and it can be transmitted that way? Is that true? I could have rubbed my eye with the wet sleeve?
Hi,
Do you understand that if HIV were spread in the manner that you describe it 1) would not be classified as a sexually transmitted disease and 2) EVERYONE would have caught it when jumped to the human species, and we would all be dead by now. Think about it.
HIV has never been transmitted in an environmental setting. Some viruses can be spread that way- if you are on a cruise ship or in a hospital, and touch a railing, door handle, or other surface with a lot of public 'contact', it is possible to contract norovirus, which is very resistant to environmental degradation. Same thing with influenza (washing your hands is the standard public health recommendation to prevent catching these illnesses- NOT using your sleeve as a glove). Anyway, HIV is the exact OPPOSITE to norovirus and influenza- it is extremely FRAGILE, and degrades instantly when it leaves its host. It cannot infect once it has left the human body. Transmission requires direct innoculation of infectious fluid INSIDE the body, which only occurs under specific circumstances (penetrative sex, or injection drug use).
I hope this factual information helps. If you need more, you can search the HIV forums under "door handle" or "environmental surface", and find similar information.
Do you understand that if HIV were spread in the manner that you describe it 1) would not be classified as a sexually transmitted disease and 2) EVERYONE would have caught it when jumped to the human species, and we would all be dead by now. Think about it.
HIV has never been transmitted in an environmental setting. Some viruses can be spread that way- if you are on a cruise ship or in a hospital, and touch a railing, door handle, or other surface with a lot of public 'contact', it is possible to contract norovirus, which is very resistant to environmental degradation. Same thing with influenza (washing your hands is the standard public health recommendation to prevent catching these illnesses- NOT using your sleeve as a glove). Anyway, HIV is the exact OPPOSITE to norovirus and influenza- it is extremely FRAGILE, and degrades instantly when it leaves its host. It cannot infect once it has left the human body. Transmission requires direct innoculation of infectious fluid INSIDE the body, which only occurs under specific circumstances (penetrative sex, or injection drug use).
I hope this factual information helps. If you need more, you can search the HIV forums under "door handle" or "environmental surface", and find similar information.
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