Expert: Terry B - 1/15/2008

Question
Hi.  About a month ago, I went ice skating while it was raining with some friends in San Francisco.  After I finished ice skating (about 45 min to an hour later), I realized that the ice skate has rubbed up against my leg and gave me a wound.  If there was HIV+ blood on the place on the skate that rubbed up against my skin, would it be possible for me to contract HIV?

Answer
Dear Tiffany:

Peace.  The theoretical answer to your question is yes, if there were fresh blood from an infected person on your skate at the time that it cut your skin.  The real-life situation is a little different - how would fresh (not dried) blood from an infected person make it to your skate in the first place, and then did the blade cut your skin or is this an abrasion?  HIV does not travel through intact latex (or layers of clothing), and there would need be present sufficient blood, semen, or vaginal secretions from an infected person to be carried to the wound.

As a person from a colder climate, I will leave alone the strange image of skating in the rain (up here, this would suggest melting ice) and merely assure you that real world transmission in the case you describe seems unlikely.

Best to you and yours,

Terry