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Expert: - 3/25/2010


Question
QUESTION: Hey Gorkey

Im Dre from South Africa

I was at a party last night and this guy dropped a glass on his foot
and there was blood so I got him a plaster and when I put it on some blood got on my fingers,if this person had AIDS and

I touched his blood would it be able to infect me if I had really short finger nails cause I have a habit of bitting them?If blood got on/in them would it be serious problem?

I'm very concerned and would like your advice

Yours Thankfully
Dre

ANSWER: Hello Dre,

HIV transmits through unprotected intercourse (thereby exchange of body fluids like semen and/or vaginal fluids), unsafe blood transfusion, from mother to child (breast feeding) and needle sharing needles among IDUs.

In your scenario, it would be very hard for HIV to be transmitted in such a case unless there was an open cut on your finger, a lot of blood present and an easy way for exchange to happen. I don’t think you have to worry about it.

Relax and have a nice day.

Regards,
Gorkey

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

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QUESTION: Ok thanks alot appreciate it

There was alot blood from his leg, and me being an idiot,just decided to go ahead being a friend and all

But any ways just one more question can blood get into your system through under your finger nails? as seen in this image which are a similar to the condition mine were in

Answer
Hello Dre,

Thanks for asking again and I do appreciate your rating. Thanks again.

While HIV can transmitted through under the finger nails when open bleeding cut is present; if there is no open bleeding cut present, HIV can not be transmitted.

Attaching a picture was really helpful. The image of the nails look just fine. Your picture shows there was not an open bleeding wound there. So, nothing to worry about my friend.

Take care and best wishes.

Regards,
Gorkey

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Gorkey Gourab

Expertise

Social and behavioral issues related to HIV transmission, sexually transmitted infections, Human Rights issues, rights of marginalized populations, gender and sexuality, research design and analysis related social & behavioral issues, , computer assisted qualitative data analysis and data management (using ATLAS.ti, ANTHROPAC, NVivo 8)

Experience

Specialized in Medical Anthropology. Working on Social and behavioral studies related to HIV transmission as well as Human Rights issues. Specialization in gender, sexuality, masculinity, behavioral studies related to HIV transmission. Qualitative research, programmatic and M&E experience with MSM, hijra (TG), indigenous groups, female sex workers for more than 7 years.

Organizations
International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) as Manager - M&E (Qualitative) with Center for HIV and AIDS

Publications
International peer-reviewed journals & technical papers: (1) Khan, S. I., Hussain, M. I., Parveen, S., Bhuiyan, M. I., Gourab, G., & Bhuiya, A. (2009). Living on the extreme margin: Social exclusion of the hijra in Bangladesh. Journal of health, population and nutrition. (2) Khan, S. I., Hussain, M. I., Gourab, G., Parveen, S., Bhuiyan, M. I., & Sikder, J. (2008). Not to stigmatize but to humanize sexual lives of the transgender (hijra): condom chat in the AIDS era. Journal of LGBT Health Research (Special issue: issues on male sexual behaviors and HIV risk in South Asia). Working papers: (1) Khan, S. I., Gourab, G., Ahmed, T., Sarker, G. F., Chowdhury, F. K., Ghosh, S., et al. (2009). Understanding the operational dynamics and possible HIV interventions for residence-based female sex workers in two divisional cities in Bangladesh. Dhaka, Bangladesh: NASP, Save the Children USA and icddr,b. Presentations in scientific meetings and conferences: (1) Khan, S. I., Hussain, M. I., Gourab, G. & Azim, T. (2011, 16 March 2011). Use of a new approach to count and access diverse groups of hijra for scaling up HIV-preventions services in Bangladesh. Poster presented at the 13th Annual Scientific Conference (ASCON XIII), Dhaka. (2) Khan, S. I., Pasa, K., Gourab, G., & Islam, A. (2007). Indigenous populations of Bangladesh: Living with risks and vulnerabilities to STIs/HIV. 8th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP). Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Education/Credentials
MSS (Anthropology), University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh

Awards and Honors
The Vanderbilt-UAB Fogarty International Center AIDS International Training and Research Program (AITRP)Scholarship for the training on HIV-AIDS related qualitative data analysis and manuscript writing (Center for Global Health, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA)

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