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Will you get HIV from knife attack?
Hi,
I heard that there is an incident whereby a man is infected by HIV through a knife fight and I am worried about it. I am a 19 year old girl. Recently, I encountered a situation whereby a middle aged man attacked me on my legs using a sharp knife-like metal object. I am not sure whether there was blood on the knife. I was wearing a long tight pants and I couldn't see whether there was any bleeding. But when I removed my pants there's a cutting mark on my legs and thighs. I went to the doctor and she said it was an abrasion and I need not worry. I am still worried that there is a HIV risk, given that a guy has caught HIV through a knife attack. I hope you are able to answer my worries and thank you in advance.
I heard that there is an incident whereby a man is infected by HIV through a knife fight and I am worried about it. I am a 19 year old girl. Recently, I encountered a situation whereby a middle aged man attacked me on my legs using a sharp knife-like metal object. I am not sure whether there was blood on the knife. I was wearing a long tight pants and I couldn't see whether there was any bleeding. But when I removed my pants there's a cutting mark on my legs and thighs. I went to the doctor and she said it was an abrasion and I need not worry. I am still worried that there is a HIV risk, given that a guy has caught HIV through a knife attack. I hope you are able to answer my worries and thank you in advance.
You had no HIV risk and it doesn't matter if he was positive so a test would be a waste of time. You can read anything on the internet, and besides even if it happened once (which it didn't) , that is just 1 infection out of billions of cuts where an HIV person's blood touched another persons - think about how many athletes collide and how many people shake hands with a cut.
HIV 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.
The only way for you to even have a theoretical risk would be if both of you had deep cuts and the virus from his cut was pushed deep into.your cut. That could only happen if both of you were in some kind of crash like a car accident.
Only adult risks for HIv are the following:
1. unprotected penetrating vaginal
2. unprotected penetrating anal sex
3. sharing needles that you inject with. Knowing these 3 are all you need to know to protect yourself against HIV. Your situation 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. The above HIV science is 40 years old and very well established so there is no detail that you can add that will make any of your encounter a risk for HIV. No one in 40 years of HIV history got HIV from the situation you are concerned about so it is unlikely that it will happen in the next 40 of your lifetime either.
HIV 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.
The only way for you to even have a theoretical risk would be if both of you had deep cuts and the virus from his cut was pushed deep into.your cut. That could only happen if both of you were in some kind of crash like a car accident.
Only adult risks for HIv are the following:
1. unprotected penetrating vaginal
2. unprotected penetrating anal sex
3. sharing needles that you inject with. Knowing these 3 are all you need to know to protect yourself against HIV. Your situation 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. The above HIV science is 40 years old and very well established so there is no detail that you can add that will make any of your encounter a risk for HIV. No one in 40 years of HIV history got HIV from the situation you are concerned about so it is unlikely that it will happen in the next 40 of your lifetime either.
3 Comments
Hi AnxiousNoMore,
I would like to thank you for answering this. It has certainly helped curb my anxiety which I had been dealing since the incident. While most professionals would agree that the possibility of HIV infection is non-existent for pin-pricked attack and similar attacks, some websites such as https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2173168/ has said that there is a possibility of 0.01%.
It has said that "Although the risk of HIV transmission through accidental exposure is low, it is still a risk at 0.5% for needlestick injury with percutaneous hollow-bore needles and 0.1% for mucous membrane exposure.3 HIV contamination has also been reported by healthcare workers from bodily fluid splash to the eye." Could you possibly address or explain what was written on this website? Does that mean that there could be transmission via bodily splash to the eye and needlestick injury for the mucous membrane exposure?
I would like to thank you for answering this. It has certainly helped curb my anxiety which I had been dealing since the incident. While most professionals would agree that the possibility of HIV infection is non-existent for pin-pricked attack and similar attacks, some websites such as https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2173168/ has said that there is a possibility of 0.01%.
It has said that "Although the risk of HIV transmission through accidental exposure is low, it is still a risk at 0.5% for needlestick injury with percutaneous hollow-bore needles and 0.1% for mucous membrane exposure.3 HIV contamination has also been reported by healthcare workers from bodily fluid splash to the eye." Could you possibly address or explain what was written on this website? Does that mean that there could be transmission via bodily splash to the eye and needlestick injury for the mucous membrane exposure?
We rely on the opinion of expert doctors and do not pay attention to theoretical sites because this is not a debating forum. Any time you are spending googling a disease that you have no medical experience or background in will be wasted time, because the possibilities of misinterpretation are endless.
Reread about the 3 and the 40 instead of trying to become an HIV expert with no training.
Reread about the 3 and the 40 instead of trying to become an HIV expert with no training.
Also, your doc was correct that you need not worry, so listen to her advice.
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