AboutKristen Brannock, MPH Expertise I can answer any of your questions concerning HIV infection and AIDS. This includes ways it can and cannot be transmitted, how it is treated, how it affects the body and methods to protect yourself. I can also answer questions concerning safer sex and contraception.
Experience I trained with the Red Cross to be an HIV/AIDS counselor and I am a member of CARES- Carolina AIDS Resource Education Service.
Organizations CARES and trained by the Red Cross I also have my Master of Public Health in Health Behavior and Health Education.
Expert: Kristen Brannock, MPH Date: 8/7/2007 Subject: possible environmental exposure
Question Thank you for your time. My question is a bit unusual and probably paranoid, but I am confused because of the various different responses I have seen regarding HIV transmission.
Two weekends ago I was at a bbq with a slip-and-slide that people were riding. One of my friends grabbed me and took me on the slide with him, and the slide was very painful; someone had basically taken a thin sheet of plastic and spread it over a lawn with rocks and twigs which ended up poking into or through the plastic. By the evening, many people who had rode the slide had huge scratches with visible blood covering their entire backs (lets say there were about 15-30 people riding the ride during the day).
When I was going on the slip and slide it was very painful, and the next morning I noticed I recieved 3 small scratches with a tiny amount of blood/fluid coming out of them (the blood/fluid on me had dried by the time I noticed it).
The slide itself was kept wet with a minimal amount of tap water, but it was not a slide like at a theme park where the water is flushed; this was more of like sliding around in a puddle on a piece of plastic.
What are my chances of HIV infection if someone at the party was infected? I ask this because I am unclear on:
1. If blood with HIV can survive in water at all (for example, someone with HIV goes down the slide and then I go down the slide - the blood does not have time to dry or disperse within a few seconds)
2. How large/deep of a cut do I need to get it? Needle sticks are far removed from scratches, in that in a needle stick there is no air exposure and the blood goes directly into the bloodstream. In anal and vaginal sex, however, it seems "small cuts" on the penis or vagina provide a route for transmission. Does this mean that any small (even invisible cut) anywhere in or on the body is a route for transmission?
3. How much infected blood/fluid must enter a small cut? Again, I am thinking why needlesticks and sex are high risk, whereas other forms of transmission are low risk.
Basically, what happened to me is the equivalent of two people with slightly bleeding papercuts on the palms of their hands rubbing them together. I hypothesize that the twigs that cut open the other people on the ride had some blood on them, and then the bloody twigs cut me open (I know that sounds ridiculous).
I will probably end up getting tested in six months anyway, but I just wanted to see how reasonable/unreasonable I am being. Thank you in advance for your reply.
Answer 1. Water does not kill HIV but there would need to be quite a bit of blood on the slide and enough would need to enter your body which seems very unlikely.
2. Any opening in the skin is a way for the virus to enter- but the smaller the opening, the less risk of transmission because there is less room for entry.
3. I can't answer this- I do not have a definite answer. It depends on many things- if blood definitely enters, then I would consider that a risk and suggest seeking an HIV test. If you do not know if blood definitely entered, I would think that it is very unlikely it would happen in this scenario. HIV transmission outside of sex and sharing needles is very very rare.
I think it is a good idea to test to be sure but I would not worry too much because, as I said before, environmental transmission is extremely rare.
