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HIV and Hepatitis B transmission

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hi,

I once visitied a prostitute (no sexual intercourse was involved) I just touched or stroked her thighs. I believe her thigh were scared or bleeding and bruised possibly from needles. I was in physical contact for about 10 mins. Straight after this I drove of to the supermarket to buy some food, the supermarket is about 2 minutes away (I did not wash my hands). I then came home and put the food in the regrigerator.

My question is am I in risk of HIV or Hepatitis Infections if i eat the food? as I have come to know that HIV lives well in cool conditions like the fridge.

Also my finger has a slight cut with dried blood could I be infected if I touched her thigh like that?

I also have one last question/scenario:

I visitied Tanzania in East Africa with my family, there my daugter became ill and we took her to the hospital for malaria check. for some reason there was a ball of tissue containing someones blood on one of the chairs. My daugther held the tissue for about 6-7 seconds, after that I used sanitizer gel and washed her hands.. so my question is can hiv and hepatitis be caused in that way?

Category: HIV- AIDS Specialist

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Category: HIV- AIDS Specialist
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Hello,

Thank you for choosing DoctorSpring.

Scenario 1 : HIV/ Hepatitis transmission HIGHLY UNLIKELY
Scenario 2 : Near Impossible.

In the first instance with the prostitute I can see that several barriers of contact and there is no direct mucosal or open wound contact. HIV and Hepatitis virus will rarely spread via the food . The fact that there is transmission chain breaks (time breaks and point of contact ) means the transmission would not have occurred .

Second scenario it is clear . Contact of blood with intact skin will not cause transmission of these viruses. Moreover there could be considerable time gap (possibly ) . So there is no reason to worry.

Hope this helps
Feel free to ask followups
Thank you


Patient replied :

Hi

Thanks for your reply.

i just wanted to add that the food that I bought from the supermarket was all sealed in either glass or plastic wrap packaging.. could the HIV or Hepatitits infection live on the packaging while in room temperaure or in the fridge? so the next time I touch the packaging and eat food with my hands could this be a problem? also I would like to mention that I did not see any visible blood on my hand after the prostitute encounter, could there possibly microscopic blood present?

Finally do I need to get a HIV check up?

Thanks.. I am really so worried about this. I have made a mistake which I deeply regret something which I will never go back to.

Thanking You.


Hello,

I do not think an HIV check is necessary (assuming that there was no other recent sexual encounters which was unprotected)

Regarding HIV virus surviving on the food packets - highly unlikely. HIV virus can survive outside the body from hours to days. It depends on the amount of HIV virus present. In the scenario you mentioned there was no visible blood or body fluid. So it is unlikely that there was any transmission at all in the first place. Hence there is not much reason for any concern. However if this is bothering you, you should discard the packets for peace of mind, in my opinion.

Hope this helps
Feel free to ask followups
Thank you


Patient replied :

Thanks,

I have already eaten the food contained in the packets but now I have discarded the packets. Do I need to discard the other packets which have touched the packets that may be affected? I also forgot mention the day after the prostitute incident I had intercourse with my wife, I used the same finger which i touched the prostitutes thigh with to masterbate my wife.. I did wash my hands about 2-3 times between the prostitute encounter and intercourse with my wife. Could my wife have caught anything from this? Thank You.


No your wife has no risk
You may keep the food, no issues there. (Ofcourse only if you are ok with it)

Hope this helps
Feel free to ask follwoups
HTank


Patient replied :

Hi,

Sorry about this I am just having continuos worries about this.

Just to make it clear after the prostitute encounter I am not fully sure if there was any blood on my hands, I didn't look at my hands, but I could not feel any wetness. I drove to the supermarket so if there was any blood on my hands could it have got stuck on the steering wheel? so next time I touch the steering wheel and eat with same hands would that be an issue? also from the supermarket to my home the distance is about another 2 minutes. Can the HIV live on the food package. So next time I touch the pacaking and open the food and touch the food in the packet like bread or the crisp would that be affected? i.e. would the food get affected? So in other words the blood from the prostitute transfer to my hands and from my hands to the food packaging and from the food packing to my hands again as i touched the food packaging again to eat the food, and from my hands to the food contained in the bag. Me and my family ate the food do we need to get tested? I am sorry about this but I can not get it out my head.

Thanks for your time.


Hello,

I understand your concern. It is not uncommon to get concern about HIV exposure, so I can understand what you might be going through. Let me reassure you, HIV cannot get transmitted like this via food and drinks. If that was the case there would be lot of 'surprise' HIV infections in the community. DO NOT worry, virtually HIV do not get transmitted through intact skin. Food bore infections also does not exist.

So your concern is without any merit. You should put all these behind you now.
Thank you


Dr. Jaydeep Tripathy
Category: HIV- AIDS Specialist
Experience: 
MBBS from Sri Ramachandra University in December 2011
M.Med (Family Medicine) - TNMGR University, Chennai
MBA-MPH in Public Health in March 2016, SRM University
Finished AFIH in March 2016, SRM University
MRCP ( UK ), Internal Medicine, Royal College of Physicians, June 2016
Fellowship in Diabetology from Martin Luther University in January 2017

Currently Resident Physician, in MD Radiodiagnosis - Kamakshi Memorial Hospital, Chennai
Dr. Jaydeep Tripathy and 4 other Medical Specialists are ready to help you

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