HIV Paranoia

[Konstant]

Hello, could you tell me if i'm at risk for anything here..

I had to use a strangers phone today. It was dirty and gross and i never like using anyones personal items, but it was an emergency.

I had a cut on my hand that I couldn't patch up in time. I used the phone with this cut, and didn't think about anything.

it wasn't until later that I noticed my cut and that i used someones dirty phone..

if there was blood on that phone- could i have contracted hiv? what about putting it up to my ear, could I get anything from someones dirty phone?

for some reason i believe that since i had the cut on my hand it could have gotten something from the phone..

[worrywart29]

You seem to get a lot of cuts. Every time you come in contact with anything you always notice a cut on your hand. Perhaps taking precautions and not getting so many cuts will help ease your fears.

[Yurochka]

Let me give you some perspective. Your risk of getting HIV from an accidental needle stick from someone who is confirmed HIV positive is literally 0.03%. That's so small it isn't even funny, correct? That means that out of every 10,000 people to get stuck with a needle CONFIRMED contaminated with HIV+ blood, only 3 of them contract the disease.

This person -

~ Odds are, isn't HIV positive in the first place. Look up prevalence estimates in your area if you want some numbers.
~ Even if they were, they likely have not bled, secreted vaginally, sprayed breast milk or ejaculated on their phone, because who does that?
~ Even if they had done that, it wouldn't have happened at least anytime recently as I imagine that would have been fairly obvious to you.
~ Even if ALL those things were true and you were holding a phone covered in dried bodily fluids, the virus actually dies very rapidly outside of the human body and does not live on hard surfaces for more than some hours.
~ Even if that phone were literally covered in fresh, HIV+ fluids, your cut is likely healed over to some extent; that's why we have scabs, to protect us from pathogens.
~ Even if that cut was fresh & open, and you were holding that phone while it was dripping with HIV+ blood, the cut likely isn't be deep enough to be an efficient means of transmission. Remember, a NEEDLE STICK gives you only 0.03% chance of transmission. That's a needle covered in fresh positive blood going deep into your skin. Yet the odds are so small for that.

Your situation? Essentially zero percent. Breathe easy, my friend. You are in no real danger.

Source - CDC; also I work in sexual health & administer dozens of HIV tests every week.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I think you need to look deeper than this current issue because there will be many just the same. You need to look at what is driving the irrational beliefs, which could be OCD based, and seek therapy to work beyond this.

Wouldn't it be good to not have these worries? To be able to look at that cut, feel the thought and then see if dissappear?