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Is a nurse not changing her gloves after touching a door handle a risk of hiv?

I had a rapid hiv test done in a Toronto STI clinic.  The nurse put on the medical gloves, then opened the door handle to go out of the room.  She came back in the room, now touching the outside door handle.  She did not change her gloves before performing the finger prick test on me.  I'm worried that she could've infected me with hiv through contaminated gloves if there was blood on the door handle and now on her gloves from when she opened the doors.  Is this a risk or an irrational thought?  if it's not a risk, why not?
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188761 tn?1584567620
COMMUNITY LEADER
If you use the search function here on this website, you will be surprised to see, there are several people who had a similar scare and no one ever has contracted this virus in that fashion. Fact of the matter is; professionals in healthcare are trained to take care of your health and not jeopardize it. Nonetheless, your thought is irrational, it is driven by fear of this disease. Perhaps a therapist will be able to help you to find out the root cause of such fear and help you overcome it.
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20620809 tn?1504362969
Yes, you are having irrational anxiety over this.  You can not get HIV from a door handle.  Air and saliva inactivate the virus and anyone touches will be exposed to air. Therefore, HIV is not transmitted this way.  The only ways adults get HIV is from unprotected vaginal or anal sex (with penetration) or sharing IV drug needles.  So, no risk here.
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2 Comments
Is there a risk of infection if the gloves were contaminated with hiv from touching the doorknob and then the gloves touched my finger (the injection site) where the lancet was used to poke me?
You asked that question before and we answered it.
The good news is there are only 3 ways you can get hiv, so hiv prevention is straightforward if you didn't do any of the 3 - you don't have to worry about the thousands of other things that can happen to you.  
Avatar universal
Your situation involves personal contact with an object in air and in saliva (her mouth which is full of air and saliva) which is not a risk for hiv. No worries, because you can't get hiv from personal contact except unprotected penetrating vaginal or anal, neither of which you did and you didn't share hollow needles to inject with which is the only other way to acquire hiv. Analysis of large numbers of infected people over the 40 years of hiv history has proven that people don't get hiv in the way you are worried is a risk.
HIV is a fragile virus in air or saliva and is effectively instantly dead in either air or saliva so the worst that could happen is dead virus rubbed you, and obviously anything which is dead cannot live again so you are good. Blood and cuts would not be relevant in your situation since the hiv has become effectively dead, so you don't have to worry about them to be sure that you are safe.
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1 Comments
Oops, it wasn't her mouth, it was the lancet and gloves you are worried about but it is the same thing, zero risk. Air touched the lancet, doorknob etc so that is why the only non sexual risk for hiv is sharing hollow needles that you use to inject with.
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