Sexually Transmitted Diseases/swimming pool

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Expert: Mark Behar - 5/18/2007


Question
just wondering...if someone infected with the aids virus urinates in a swimming
pool, is it possible for other swimmers to contract the disease or does the
chlorine/chemicals kill the virus?

Answer
Hello Adrianne,
HIV, the AIDS virus, if very difficult to pass on to someone.  It is not found in the urine, only in blood and bodily fluids such as semen, vaginal/cervical secretions, etc. Even if someone with HIV/AIDS were actively bleeding into a swimming pool, it would be very difficult to cause infection in someone else.

Hepatitis B is a different story-- it is far more infectious than HIV, and is also a blood borne virus. It has been said that if only one drop of hepatitis B infected blood was deposited into a swimming pool THAT WAS NOT CHLORINATED OR OTHERWISE PROPERLY DISINFECTED, that that would be enough to cause an infection with others. NOT SO WITH HIV/AIDS.

But all public swimming pools are generally disinfected properly, and therefore should not be a cause of alarm for such transmission of HIV/AIDS or most other viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens.

One germ that has been commonly associated with a folliculitis-- inflammed hair bumps, especially on the legs-- can be spread in pools, especially hot tubs or jacuzzis, where the temperature of the water is far warmer, which makes it more difficult to control disinfection chemicals like chlorine or bromine.

Hope this is reassuring! Have fun in the pool, and don't worry. By the way, make sure you know how to swim before going into the water!

--mark  

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Mark Behar

Expertise

Almost any question or concern about sexually transmitted infections, abnormal Pap smears, anal cytology (anal "Pap smears"), gay men's health issues. There is no such thing as “d/d free” or “clean” (free of infection), so why do so many of us deceive ourselves into thinking that some people are indeed totally free from a potentially infectious disease, like HIV, herpes, hepatitis, syphilis, chlamydia, warts, gonorrhea, etc., just because they say so? Clinical laboratory tests are not perfect, and having a “negative” or “nonreactive” test does not mean that a person is free from infection. Perhaps at the moment the test was taken, the person was uninfected; or, perhaps, the test wasn’t sensitive enough to detect presence of the infection. There is really no way that anyone can determine that they are truly “disease free,” and there are over a hundred of infectious conditions that can be spread without your knowing anything. Rather than trying to “prescreen” or “serosort” a potential sex-mate with deceptive questions that are impossible to know by today’s technologies, a wiser option may be to consider everyone infected with something, and either use appropriate protective measures (“safer sex”), or accept the responsibility and conseqences of possibly “catching” something from someone who’s hotter than expected (pun intended!). There is much research that supports the contention that an HIV positive person reliably taking HIV medications, and having an undetectable viral load, presents a lower risk for transmission of HIV than people who may think or say they are HIV negative, but are not. Food for thought!

Experience

Family Practice PA since 1981; Volunteer Clinician for Brady East STD (BESTD) Clinic, Milwaukee, since 1977; answer STD questions submitted to their web site. Professionally lectured at national and regional Physician Assistant and Nurse Practitioner conferences, and at national gay & lesbian health conferences on topics including HIV/AIDS, herpes, hepatitis, STDs, human papilloma virus (the cause of venereal warts), abnormal Pap smears, gay and lesbian health issues, among others.

Organizations
Co-Founder, Lesbian, Bisexual, & Gay Physician Assistant Caucus of the American Academy of Physician Assistants, Inc.; Wisconsin Academy of Physician Assistants; American Society of Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (ASCCP); Board of Directors, National Association of Black and White Men Together: A Gay, Multiracial Organization for All People (NABWMT)

Publications
Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants (JAPA)

Education/Credentials
Physician Assistant Certified, since 1982; Masters in Physician Assistant Studies; Colposcopy Recognition Award, American Society of Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (ASCCP);

Awards and Honors
Colposcopy Recognition Award (CRA), from the American Association of Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology; Distinguished Fellow, American Academy of Physician Assistants; Fellow, Wisconsin Academy of Physician Assistants

Past/Present Clients
Brady East STD Clinic, Milwaukee, WI

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