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AIDS/Non-Sexual Transmission of STD/HIV

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Expert: - 4/9/2010


Question
Hello,

I would like your advice and reassurance. I am not sexually active, and never had sex but am worried about a particular incident. Last week, I was walking along a street in South Africa at night when someone brush me on my left hand, and in particular, I felt a sharp tinge on the middle finger of the left hand. I turned around to look at who did it but that person had disappeared into an alley. My middle finger is bruised and some blood came out. It remains red, bruised and is aching. It is as if I was pricked by something. Because I am a visitor in a country that has a high rate of HIV cases, I am worried that I was pricked by an object (syringe/needle perhaps) that could lead to STD/HIV transmission. I am not sure what to do now as I have lost all sense of rationality after this incident. I do not suffer from any mental disorder but this incident concerns me. I would appreciate your advice and reassurance on this matter. Could STD/HIV be transmitted this way, and therefore I should go for testing? Or should I just let my finger heal, forget about this incident, and move on in life? Thank you - Martin

Answer
Hello Martin,

While there are rumors about becoming infected with HIV through needlestick injuries, for HIV infection to take place in this way the needle would need to contain infected blood with a high level of infectious virus. If a person was then pricked with an infected needle, they could become infected, but there is still only a 0.4% chance of this happening (AVERT, 2010). In clinical or occupational settings this chance is higher though, since experts claim that the significance in these settings is double compared to other settings (Dickson, D. & Stevens, M., 2007). Also statistics show that 98% of needlestick injuries do not involve HIV-infected blood.

However, needles can transfer blood and blood-borne illnesses such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV, the risk of infection taking place in this way is extremely low.

Considering the above issues and the scenario you mentioned, the possibility of your getting STD/STI or HIV from a random needle stick is significantly lower. Lower risk does not mean no risk. So, getting tested is best choice.

Sorry for being late to response.

Best 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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