HIV and AIDS Forum - Survivability of HIV virus outside the body

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Q: Survivability of HIV virus outside the body

asked by: DoctorQuestion on December 25th, 2008

Hi,
A few days back I went to visit a person who is HIV . Now an incident happened which is worrying me a lot.
I had to use his bike a couple of times and for that I also borrowed his helmet. Now everytime I took the helmet off my head something scraped against my right ear, it hurt, and there was a burning sensation. This happened a couple of times.
I examined the helmet and saw that the fabric inside the hemet had become very stiff and was broken in places. Several edges from the stiff cushioing were projecting out. When I noticed my ear there were two scars/cuts. It was not like blood was dripping out of them, but definitely the skin was broken and they hurt.
I am really worrying about this incident. Anybody who used that helmet would have been hurt while taking off the helmet. 2-3 times I used the helmet just after he had used it. There was however a 5-10 minute gap between his taking off the helmet and mine using it.
Should I worry about the cuts/scars and get tested?Thanks

Replies(1)

Dr. Andrijana Shterjovska , MD

replied on December 27th, 2008

HIV and AIDS Answer A5178

HIV is a virus that does not do well in outer environments. Several minutes are needed for the virus to disappear, if it is not contained in body fluids or blood. The possibility that you were infected is very small. However, it can not be excluded completely. Just to be sure, you might want to do an HIV test 3 months after the possible exposure.

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