HIV question(s)?

Question

Ok, say some blood or semen gets outside of the body and it is HIV positive.

How long would that amount of HIV be able to survive(exact time) before it dies and completely goes away?

Also, does go away, is that correct? Like I have heard that like HIV has been found in bodies from the 70's and stuff, so like even though the host is dead and there is like no blood anymore, then how is that HIV shown if it is supposed to die? How does it work?

Points go to best answer

Answer 1

HIV is an extremely unstable virus. A clever little thing though, it mutates all the time. Hence no vaccine yet. The virus, once "outside" its host lives for about 3-5 SECONDS, and really, no longer. The chances of contracting HIV from any other route other that direct contact, eg. sexual, is tiny. It has never even been documented.

Yes, if you have been in contact with the virus, a blood test would be necessary.

I am a MD specializing in HIV and AIDS research

Answer 2

There is no "exact time". First off, it depends on the "stuff" that got outside the body. If it was a drop of stuff, then all the virus would be exposed to air very quickly, and it would be inactivated. If there was a lot of stuff, like 5 milliliters, then it could last for several days, as the virus in the middle of the blood would not be exposed to air.



HIV is a virus, and viruses are not alive, so they don't die. Google it if you don't believe me. But they do become inactivated, unable to cause disease.



When they go looking back for HIV, or when they found smallpox in Egyptian mummies, they didn't find the virus or bacteria alive and well in the body. That's not even how we always test for viruses inside living people. Often times we use techniques like PCR to look for the genetic signature of that It's somewhat complicated, but basically, it involves taking a complementary strand of dna and using it as a puzzle piece to find more of the same. I included a link to an article on it.



It's sort of like how that person they found HIV in is dead, but their DNA is still there. They're not alive, and the HIV isn't infectious.

Answer 3

Unless an open sore or cut is present on the area where the HIV positive blood or semen was "splashed," there is a very low risk of exposure to HIV. However, because there was exposure - you should to to your nearest ER and receive preventative treatment as a precaution. Nurses, Doctors, and EMS workers who have needlesticks - etc, have to do this when ANY exposure occurs and it is better to be safe than sorry.



Also, who cares how long it "lives" outside of the body. What is most important is your body, and whether or not it will infect you. Take no chances, get to the ER and start your prevention meds.

Answer 4

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC):



Scientists and medical authorities agree that HIV does not survive well outside the body, making the possibility of environmental transmission remote. HIV is found in varying concentrations or amounts in blood, semen, vaginal fluid, breast milk, saliva, and tears. To obtain data on the survival of HIV, laboratory studies have required the use of artificially high concentrations of laboratory-grown virus. Although these unnatural concentrations of HIV can be kept alive for days or even weeks under precisely controlled and limited laboratory conditions, CDC studies have shown that drying of even these high concentrations of HIV reduces the amount of infectious virus by 90 to 99 percent within several hours. Since the HIV concentrations used in laboratory studies are much higher than those actually found in blood or other specimens, drying of HIV-infected human blood or other body fluids reduces the theoretical risk of environmental transmission to that which has been observed - essentially zero. Incorrect interpretations of conclusions drawn from laboratory studies have in some instances caused unnecessary alarm.



Results from laboratory studies should not be used to assess specific personal risk of infection because (1) the amount of virus studied is not found in human specimens or elsewhere in nature, and (2) no one has been identified as infected with HIV due to contact with an environmental surface. Additionally, HIV is unable to reproduce outside its living host (unlike many bacteria or fungi, which may do so under suitable conditions), except under laboratory conditions; therefore, it does not spread or maintain infectiousness outside its host.



And..

Generally the fragile nature of the virus prevents it from surviving for a substantial amount of time in the open air. The length of time HIV can survive outside the body is dependent on the amount of HIV present in the body fluid and the conditions the fluid might be subjected to.



Note that HIV is fragile and many common substances such as hot liquid, soap, bleach, alcohol, and the gastric juices found within your stomach can destroy the virus.



The studies on the survival of HIV outside the body have been conducted in the laboratory under controlled scientific conditions. These studies found HIV to be inactivated by heat

Answer 5

HIV is able to live 72 hours "3 days" out side the body and no longer. The only other way to kill the virus is to clean up any infected area with bleach. Bleach kills the virus just too bad it kills us as well.