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Frozen Food-Related Query
Call me crazy, but I'm concerned about the viability of HIV on an ice cream bar.
I've read extensively that the virus doesn't transmit when dry or through food -- but that when wet and/or frozen, it survives very well. Hence my quandry of whether to dismiss my paranoia or heed it.
Here's the scenario:
Purchased a store-made vanilla ice cream bar dipped in hard-shell chocolate from a local place. These are made by putting the soft-serve on a tray, inserting a wooden stick and then freezing hard. Then, they're removed and dipped in heated chocolate that hardens upon drying. They're then put back in the freezer until ordered and sold and eaten.
I was eating one of these when I looked down on the ice cream and saw a thin red smear (no bigger than a toothpick in width) and a small red dot where I'd taken two bites that removed the chocolate. I thought my mouth might be bleeding, but when I looked in the mirror it wasn't.
I stopped eating.
I realize it might not have been blood at all -- maybe wayward strawberry topping -- but for the sake of argument, let's say it was blood that wasn't mine and was HIV-infected.
What's the likelihood of the virus surviving on the frozen ice cream and through the dip into the warmed chocolate and the refreeze and the wet state it returned to when it began melting (while I ate it over several minutes)? What's the likelihood of that exposure (I didn't consume the ice cream with the streaks, just the chocolate that had been covering/touching it) resulting in me contracting HIV?
I apparently don't have any bloody sores/wounds in my mouth, but I have bitten inside my mouth on occasion recently so the inside of my cheek isn't smooth.
I've read extensively that the virus doesn't transmit when dry or through food -- but that when wet and/or frozen, it survives very well. Hence my quandry of whether to dismiss my paranoia or heed it.
Here's the scenario:
Purchased a store-made vanilla ice cream bar dipped in hard-shell chocolate from a local place. These are made by putting the soft-serve on a tray, inserting a wooden stick and then freezing hard. Then, they're removed and dipped in heated chocolate that hardens upon drying. They're then put back in the freezer until ordered and sold and eaten.
I was eating one of these when I looked down on the ice cream and saw a thin red smear (no bigger than a toothpick in width) and a small red dot where I'd taken two bites that removed the chocolate. I thought my mouth might be bleeding, but when I looked in the mirror it wasn't.
I stopped eating.
I realize it might not have been blood at all -- maybe wayward strawberry topping -- but for the sake of argument, let's say it was blood that wasn't mine and was HIV-infected.
What's the likelihood of the virus surviving on the frozen ice cream and through the dip into the warmed chocolate and the refreeze and the wet state it returned to when it began melting (while I ate it over several minutes)? What's the likelihood of that exposure (I didn't consume the ice cream with the streaks, just the chocolate that had been covering/touching it) resulting in me contracting HIV?
I apparently don't have any bloody sores/wounds in my mouth, but I have bitten inside my mouth on occasion recently so the inside of my cheek isn't smooth.
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