HIV and AIDS Forum - HIV transmission via dried blood

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Q: HIV transmission via dried blood

asked by: DoctorQuestion on July 13th, 2009

do i need testing?
1. (since october, bt dint really wory till february but stopped 5th of may). I used to stck my hand in my back undr my shirt n scratch pimples like 200-800 times a day (no exaggerating). what would b the risk if there was hiv blood in every one of these times?
2.(feb 27) went 2 use bathroom, put bookbag on ground n dint touch any part of me till 10-15 minutes later (blood probably would've dried). however, on march 21-25 i had night sweats. what's the risk? is this ARS?
3.(between march 10-14) saw cm of blood at bottom of cut n then bled. what if the blood was fresh n it was hiv blood n it got in my wound? what if it was hiv blood that cut/poked me n it was hiv blood getting in my wound? what's the risk?
4.(march 18) got done jogging, saw a 1 inch wound on my thumb (wide and long) with blood in it. what's the risk if it was not mine but hiv blood?
5.(march 31) saw a 1 inch in diameter spot of dried blood on my shorts n it wasn't mine. what's the risk

Replies(1)

Dr. Goce Aleksovski , MD

replied on August 22nd, 2009

HIV and AIDS Answer A7103

1. if there was already HIV in your body it would not matter whether you spread it by scratching pimples. If there was blood, which was not dry, on your hands and under fingernails and the pimples were bleeding too, then you might have infected yourself with HIV.

2. night sweats might be one of the symptoms related to Aids Related Syndrome, but a diagnosis cannot be given based solely on them since they are not specific enough.

3. if fresh infected blood enters a wound, there is a great risk of HIV infection.

4. the risk for transmitting HIV via infected blood and a wound does not change significantly with the location of the wound.

5. If blood does not come in contact with skin lesions (even microscopically small), transmission cannot occur. Once blood is dried, it cannot transmit infection even if it comes in contact with microscopic skin lesions.

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