HIV risk from my son burning skin with eraser

[Momof4almost5]

Hi there,

My 13 y.o. Son has come home from school with four severe eraser burns on his arms. He has admitted to doing it with an eraser at school. I'm worried that this might be a transmission risk for HIV. Say....if he used an eraser to do this immediately after another kid has done this same act to the point of bleeding. I guess this is called "the eraser challenge". I have cautioned him about doing this again, but am worried that he might be at risk and should be tested. I have six children and I just have never thought of kids doing this. The wounds are about 2-3 inches and now scabbed over. He initially lied about how he got the wounds and it seems they were sharing them.

When I googled it, it seems I found a few concerns of this being a risk, but I don't want to panick, I just want to get the facts straight.

I have accidentally posted this in the regular forum, but had intentions of only submitting it to the experts. Sorry about that, thanks so much. Your knowledge is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Holly

[Momof4almost5]

I want to thank you for putting HIV into context within Florida. You have been a great source of information and I will try not to be such a worried momma in the future. Thanks again.

Holly

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

I'm glad to have helped.  Perhaps a few more comments will help put the media attention to HIV in your state into context.

Florida has higher rates primarily because of large numbers of particularly high risk population groups, including poor (especially urban) African Americans and various immigrant groups.  But even in these, HIV is extremely rare in children.  Even in the most disadvantaged populations, routine strategies have prevented newborn HIV infections, i.e. automatic testing of pregnant women and treating the positives.  And the very rare HIV infected kids are almost all on treatment, which prevents them from infecting other people.  So even if some of the kids in your child's class come from high risk populations, the chance any of them has transmissible HIV is exceedingly low.

[Momof4almost5]

Thanks so much for your response,  you're right I did post something before I believe it was March or April of this year. I do wonder sometimes outside of sex, drugs, and transfusions if there are risks, I do live in FL where the incidence is higher and it's something that is talked about quite often, I suppose that makes me overly concerned. I will try to keep in mind not to be concerned unless it involves one of the high risk acts. Again, thanks so much.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Welcome back to the forum.

HIV is not transmitted from person to person except by unprotected sex and by intimate exposure to blood, like through sharing drug injection equipment.  There has never been a case acquired from an event like the "eraser challenge" your child describes.  Could HIV or another blood-borne infection be transmitted, in theory, by this?  Probably not.  A previous child would have to have HIV, and the eraser would have to be overtly wet with blood -- and this seems extremely unlikely.  I don't know what you found in your google search, but I am confident there is no reputable medical or scientific evidence that such transmission has ever happened.

I'm concerned that you are inappropriately fearful of HIV.  Your question a few weeks ago also reflected a concern about an event that carried no plausible risk of HIV transmission.  If HIV could be transmitted by the sorts of things you described in that question and this one, it would be a hundred times more common than it is, and it would not be classified as a sexually and blood-transmitted disease.

So trust the science on this. There simply is nothing at all to be concerned about.

Best regards--  HHH, MD