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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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How Long Does The HIV Virus Sustain Outside The System?

I am a 25 year old female. Ok, I was wearing flip flops when I entered a public restroom last night and the floor was all covered with wetness as though the toilet had backed up or something...just really disgusting. When I walked in I tried to be careful as not to let any of the fluids form the floor (which I would imagine to be a mix of toilet water and urine) touch my feet. When I returned home later ( this is weird and gross I know) I was in pain from a very slight ingrown nail I had noticed throughout the evening and could not find my nail clippers anywhere so I decided the only way to fix it would be to use my teeth to try to cut the nail a bit- in doing this I cut my tongue on my nail and made it bleed....now I am very concerned. This was at least 20 minutes after I had left the bathroom- and as far as I remember my feet never became wet themselves from the bathroom water ( unless some splashed without my noticing) but now I am very afraid of contracting hiv this way.....what do you think?
Mon, 28 Jul 2014
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Internal Medicine Specialist 's  Response
Hi there! What a chain of events to have happened! Though your feet were exposed to contaminated water it is extremely unlikely that you would contract the
hiv virus in this manner. There are no studies showing isolation of the hiv virus from urine or sewage. Other infections (bacterial etc) though could be transmitted.
Relax and do be more careful in the future. All the best!
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Hematologist Dr. Hardik Sanghvi's  Response
Hi, don't worry about that. Just be relaxed. Hiv can not spread by that way. hiv virus cannot survive very long time outside the body environment. hiv can be spread by sexual contact, blood to blood contact or from maternal to child. You are safe. Dont worry.
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How Long Does The HIV Virus Sustain Outside The System?

Hi there! What a chain of events to have happened! Though your feet were exposed to contaminated water it is extremely unlikely that you would contract the hiv virus in this manner. There are no studies showing isolation of the hiv virus from urine or sewage. Other infections (bacterial etc) though could be transmitted. Relax and do be more careful in the future. All the best!