Prone to HIV?

[ddddddddz]

I've been tested HIV POSITIVE. I don't know how. I want to cancel out the possible situations.

1. If I touched a condom with dried sperm with a papercut. Could I get HIV?

2. If I touched a condom with wet sperm ( which has been exposed to air and heat) with a papercut. Could i get HIV?


That's all for now, I'll ask more later. Thank you

 

[PabloZed]

Sorry to hear, but getting tested is a great first step. Are you really 74? I read that in Florida there was an increase in HIV in seniors, apparently because they did not use protection because of their age.

As for your questions, it is extremely unlikely (we are talking struck by lightning numbers) to get HIV by handling condoms or even sperm.

 

[3nipples]

I think O2 covered the answers.

I have a friend who was living with a HIV+ partner and recounts an episode where cum from his partner landed on a wound on his finger caused by a hangnail that he had been tearing at. He tested HIV+ on his next control and believes this is how he caught it. This is anecdotal and there is no way to prove that he didn't get it some other way.

 

[BenF]

I've been tested HIV POSITIVE. I don't know how. I want to cancel out the possible situations.

1. If I touched a condom with dried sperm with a papercut. Could I get HIV?

2. If I touched a condom with wet sperm ( which has been exposed to air and heat) with a papercut. Could i get HIV

I very much doubt it - but I'm sure somebody will find some etheral statistic courtesy of some crap website to prove me wrong.

It's more likely you got it from unprotected sex (anal or oral), or a bad blood (and blood product) transfusion.

 

[Commander Vimes]

I very much doubt it, HIV is not contracted that simply. for you to contract the virus there needs to be 3 elements.

Quality = The person who is already infected has to have a high Viral Load.

Quantity = There has to be contact with a surficent amount of infected blood or seamen.

Route = Virus has to have a path into the blood stream.

In the scenario that you describe the route is there, there is no way to tell the quailty but the quantity is not present.

I know the need to identify how you were infected. When I was diagnosised I wanted to know how, but I have now have accepted that I will proberly never know.

 

[jockboy01]

Goula gives a great point that I would restate... tests aren't 100%. The HIV tests now are pretty good overall. But they are wrong on occasion. So I would say get re-tested. Then, as the others have stated, it is not very likely that either of these things was the route. It is possible (#2 more so than #1) but the odds are EXTREMELY low.

unprotected sex... oral or anal, IV drug use with a dirty needle or a bad blood transfusion are all more likely.

 

[bluedragon4]

my first long term bf got tested all the time even though we were only with each other and he got a false pos. He freaked out and thought I gave it to him. I don't have it and his next few tests were neg. side note- he actually ended up turning out to be a bug chaser after we broke up! thank God he did that after me!I will never understand bug chasers!

 

[RicanDAB]

Goula gives a great point that I would restate... tests aren't 100%. The HIV tests now are pretty good overall. But they are wrong on occasion. So I would say get re-tested.

This was my thought exactly. Thanks!

 

[3nipples]

Goula gives a great point that I would restate... tests aren't 100%. The HIV tests now are pretty good overall. But they are wrong on occasion. So I would say get re-tested. Then, as the others have stated, it is not very likely that either of these things was the route. It is possible (#2 more so than #1) but the odds are EXTREMELY low.

unprotected sex... oral or anal, IV drug use with a dirty needle or a bad blood transfusion are all more likely.

To be more precise (according to my health clinic), the tests are geared to be sensitive, so are more likely to give you a false +ive than a false -ive. That is why (in Switzerland anyways) when you test posititive, they will send a blood sample to the lab for a second, more rigorous test, to make sure. I would be surprised if they did it differently in the States, but this is yet another reason why you shouldn't rely on a do it yourself test kit.

 

[tommyj]

3nips, I read recently in the paper where HIV is exploding in Switzerland...Any reason u see?

 

[3nipples]

I don't know about exploding, but following a decline in numbers for several years there was suddenly a sharp increase which has now levelled off. Complacency is an often cited reason for the increase as well as a reduction in budgets that aim at prevention.

The quote below is from the Swiss public health department: http://www.bag.admin.ch/hiv_aids/00824/index.html?lang=en

The success of HIV prevention and treatment led to a certain "normalization" of the problem in the second half of the 1990s. Today the question is whether AIDS work in Switzerland entered a new phase from 2001 on: The reported new cases of positive HIV tests have been rising again – by several percent in 2001, 25% in 2002 and as much as 37% among men who have sex with men in 2002. At the same time the pressure to save money was never so great as in 2002 and 2003. It seems that dwindling investment in prevention activities since the mid-1990s evoked a fall in the pressure to achieve prevention and therefore possibly also a decline in protective behaviour. In the media, AIDS features only as a catastrophe affecting the Third World and/or as a medical success story. The HIV/AIDS work therefore has entered a new phase which could be titled “ End of normalization”.

If you check out the link above, note the pdf publication on the right "National HIV/Aids Programme 2004-2008" http://www.bag.admin.ch/shop/00032/00038/index.html?lang=en

 

[HartfordGuy]

Here in the States if you get a Positive first test, the Lab then sends out for a more detailed "Western Blot" Test. If this comes back positive it is certain.

But sometimes the second test will come back "undetermined" especially if it is a recent infection and the viral load is low. Then they do a third test called a viral load test. That will remove all doubt.

 

[HartfordGuy]

You should also keep in mind that it takes several weeks to several months for HIV antibodies to appear in your blood stream. So if you're trying to figure out how you contracted the disease, it is probably not from any recent risky activities.

True. Think back at least two months. But not really any further than that.

And definately contact any sex partners you fooled around with since then so they can go get tested.