“Possible HIV exposure”
I work as a maintenance tech for apartments, we had a clean out on Tuesday and the guy had HIV and we didn’t know it until we saw an HIV medication in his apartment. None of us had gloves on, but the guy has been out of the apartment for two or more weeks. He did have sex toys in his apartment that we had to pick up and trash. I just wanna make sure I don’t have any possible chance of getting it.
Male | 24 years old
2 Answers
It's highly unlikely, especially if nothing was bloody and your skin is intact, no open wounds. However, any time you are cleaning out anything that has been used by others, would always wear gloves. You have nothing to lose as they are cheap and if you are cleaning out a basement or an attic I would also wear an N95 mask. This will help you avoid any fungi or bacteria that may get aerosolized.
No risk to pick up HIV from random contact. It has to be blood to blood contact. HIV also does not live outside the body for more than a few minutes so you are not at risk. Andrew Jameson, MD, FACP, FIDSA, AAHIVS Specialty Medical Director Trinity Health Medical Group Section Chief-Infectious Diseases Trinity Health Saint Mary's Hospital Associate Professor of Medicine Clerkship Director- Internal Medicine Michigan State University- CHM Email: andrew.jameson@trinity-health.org W 616.685.8200 P 616.397.3097 310 Lafayette Suite 410 Grand Rapids, MI 49503
