Many people walk around without HIV thinking they have never been with a HIV person. Well, they could be wrong. They might have been with an infected person but there were no cuts and tears in the sexual membranes to cause infection. That is for sex. But how many chances like those can one take?

With the blood, that is another story. You mean like injection of the blood? Blood has the highest concentration of HIV and infection is easy. Again, if there is no way into the bloodstream, HIV will not occur.

Great question. Hope I have answered it.

Alway
Muthoni (Mson)

Thanks for the quick response Muthoni - your response left me with two more questions:

1. So it's not that the sexual fluids alone transfer HIV, it's when the fluids touch a cut or tear that a person can become infected?

2. This question has been in the back of my mind for awhile, but I thought about it more when a nurse giving me an injection last week stuck herslef with the needle (after giving me the injection). If I had HIV would there be a 100% chance that the nurse got HIV since her blood came into contact with mine?

With drug users, they inject the infected blood into the vein.

With a needle prick, the nurse bleeds out, I don't see how HIV or anything would get in. See?

For the first part of your question, yes there has to be a way into the bloodstream for HIV to occur.

Muthoni (Mson)

I don't understand, even though she bleeds out, the infected blood would still have come into contact with hers.

When a nurse sticks herself with a needle they always run a multitude of tests to check for HIV, hepatitis, etc, so they must be able to get infected that way.

They don't do a test it would be too early they give them a multitude of medication and nobody knows if they were infected in the first place or not. When they finally test, the are negative. In my area, I have not heard of a needle prick HIV infection. Maybe elsewhere...I don't know.

What's your worry? Do you need a test? Go for it.

Always
Muthoni (Mson)

I'm not worried, just curious.