Help after terrifying incident with saliva in eye

[Nurselady28]

Today someone spat directly in my eyes. I felt a large volume of spit land directly in my eye and I ran to the sink to wash it out. This was not spit from a conversation, it was someone actively drawing up saliva in their mouth to spit in my face as an assault.

Because I washed the spit out straight away, I did not see if there was any blood in it. If this person is hiv+, and if the spit contained blood, what is the likelihood that they could have infected me?

To reiterate, they spat a large quantity of saliva at me, most of which when directly into my eyes. And it might have had blood in it.

I am terrified.

[Sara_MHModerator]

We are sorry you are so anxious.  Our members have done their best to share the fact with you that while unfortunate that it happened, it is not means for acquiring HIV.   We wish you the best and are closing this discussion.

***  thread closed ***

[Nurselady28]

https://journals.lww.com/aidsonline/fulltext/2000/01280/hiv_1_infection_transmitted_by_serum_droplets_into.19.aspx

It’s this journal that has confused me. Is says there is a confirmed case of hiv from droplets of blood into the eye. As the person who spat in my face had bleeding gums, is it not possible the blood would still have been undiluted and fresh when they spit into my eye. It was directly into my eye and a large amount. Very scared.

[biology2017]

Sorry for what happened.
1)saliva is not capable of infection. Blood inside would have been diluted
2) the risk is zero
3) i advice you to move on and put this behind. If u still find urself stuck in this, go seek help or talk to someone

[Nurselady28]

Thank you for your response. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before and I am entirely in shock.

I am confused because there are journals online that say blood in the eye can transmit hiv. I’m worried that this is what happened to me, especially with the amount of saliva that directly entered my eye. I’m also worried that I didn’t wash it long enough or get to the sink quickly enough.

Is it safe for me to resume intimacy with my partner or should I wait until I get tested for this incident? I don’t want to put anyone else’s health at risk.

[AnxiousNoMore]

This answers all of your HIV questions, and if you can think of any more just reread about the 3. You had zero risk therefore  testing is irrelevant to your situation because you had zero risk. HIV is a fragile virus, which is instantly inactivated in air and also in saliva which means it is effectively dead so it can't infect from touching, external rubbing or oral activities. It doesn't matter if you and they were actively bleeding or had cuts at the time either because the HIV is effectively dead.  
Only 3 adult risks are the following:
1. unprotected penetrating vaginal with a penis
2. unprotected penetrating anal sex with a penis
3. sharing needles that you inject with. These 3 are all you need to know to protect yourself against HIV. The situation you describe is a long way from any of these 3.
Even with blood, lactation, cuts, rashes, burns, etc the air or the saliva does not allow inactivated virus to infect from touching, external rubbing or oral activities. Doctors have calculated the risk from what you describe to be less than that of being hit by a meteor, therefore no one will get HIV from what you did in the next 40 years of your life either. The above HIV science is 40 years old and very well established, so no detail that you can add to your encounter will change it from zero risk.
Unless someone injects blood from a syringe into your eye, there isn't any hiv risk and Chima told you that. You can read anything online about theoretical risks that have never manifested in 40 years, so if you continue Googling for death, then you will never get peace.

[Nurselady28]

Thank you for your response. I think the moment just put so much fear into me that the anxiety is making me feel like I have something or that I might be that unlucky one who contracts it in an unlikely manner, the unlucky one in a million.

I will try to work through this somehow but I have really been shaken up. Thank you for taking the time to respond.

[AnxiousNoMore]

btw, If anyone gets it this way it will be a lot more than 1 in a million per that doc's calculation about the meteor.

[Nurselady28]

That is reassuring. Thank you. I no longer feel the need to test or ponder on this any further. You have really helped as I was about to carry this incident for days and days to come.

[Chima7]

That's totally gross. But since saliva is not infectious, it's not a risk for HIV. Even if the person was HIV positive, even if there was blood in their saliva, it's still not a risk. Saliva
contains digestive enzymes which create an extremely hostile environment for the HIV virus and therefore it renders it inactive and unable to infect.

[Nurselady28]

I thought I was over this but clearly not. Even if the saliva mixed with blood went directly into my eye? I know the general knowledge says HIV dies on contact with air, but the saliva/blood? when straight from mouth to eye duct in less than 1 second. I can't shake the fear. I know you are only trying to help but I worry there are details to my scenario that might make me vulnerable to infection that I am not conveying so well.