Anonymous asked: can you contract hiv by sucking on the end of a pen after someone with hiv has suck on the pen 20 minutes befor me.
Ask an Expert’s Health Educator said…
A: The simple answer is no.
HIV is not transmitted by day-to-day contact with someone living with HIV, for example HIV is not transmitted by sharing cups, toilet seats, holding hands, hugging or sucking on the same pen as someone living with HIV.
There are a number of reasons for this, for HIV transmission to occur:
- HIV-infected body fluids need to exit the body of someone living with HIV
- HIV needs to be present in sufficient quantity to cause infection
- HIV needs to survive the environment outside the bloodstream
- HIV needs to enter the blood stream of a person who is HIV-negative (either directly or by passing through delicate mucous membranes)
Sucking on a pen that a person living with HIV has also sucked on would indicate that you have only shared saliva. Saliva is not a fluid that transmits HIV. The only fluids that transmit HIV are those that contain high quantities of HIV: blood, semen (cum), vaginal and anal mucus/discharges, breast milk and the fluids surrounding the brain/spinal cord/ a baby in the womb/bone joints.
HIV also does not live long outside the body, even if there happened to be HIV-infected blood on the pen you shared, it is very unlikely that HIV would have survived exposure to the air for 20 minutes.
Furthermore, HIV-infected body fluids (such as blood or semen) entering the mouth carry very low risk for transmission as the lining of the mouth is very protective, any fluid is quickly diluted by saliva and HIV is destroyed by stomach acids. The only way HIV has been transmitted via the mouth has been in cases where a significant amounts of fresh infected fluids (like fresh blood) entered the mouth and the lining of the mouth had been compromised eg via bleeding gums, significant inflammation or after recent dental work.
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