Police office in need of help

[mmadden1435]

Hello all,

I had an encounter that i am really worried about today and need some advice from you all.  I was entering an abandoned house today where a heroin addict was shooting up and i touched the door knobs and door to get in.  After we arrested the man and took him to the hospital i remember WIPING MY EYES. when i looked down i saw a little red dot on my finger. I am worried now that i wiped this very possible hiv blood into my eyes from this heroin user.  It was at least 30 mins since i had touched him. Would the hiv virus have been inactive after that 30 mins or am i at risk from this exposure. Also i am worried about cleaning off my hand with hydrogen peroxide and a QTIP once i saw the red dots.  I was cleaning with the qtip and trying to see if the specs of red would come off the QTIP and i think i may have flicked it into my eye also. If this happened would the hydrogen peroxide have killed the virus before it was flicked in my eye? I talked to my health admin and they kind of laughed at me so i really need your help.  Please help i am extremely worried and do not want to infect my wife if i was at risk.  Please address both situations with the qtip flicking in my eye and the hand wiping my eye.  Sorry for my ignorance .Thanks for your help.

Mark

[Edward W Hook, MD]

No.  I really was telling the truth.  Hyrogen peroxide, even "ol" hyrogen peroxide does not "reactivate" HIV.  I've sai that 3 times.  Won't say it again.  EWH

[mmadden1435]

This will truly be the last comment but i want to clarify i used pretty old hydrogen peroxide and it is the 3% only which is pretty low.  Could a lower peroxide actually reactivate the virus once dead?  For knowledge hopefully you will not get mad at this last question just want to clarify as i am more calm then i have been since this happened. So basically if you could just say in a few words if hiv is reactivated outside the body with hydrogen peroxide even low levels once it is dead or if this is only when used as therapy inside the body.  Thanks for helping and i wish i could do something for you (anyone you need me to give a ticket lol) This will be my last comment and you can close the thread if you like i really hate to bother but this will finish off all my questions.

Mark

[Edward W Hook, MD]

You are a victum of the internet and have mis-interpreted this paper.  The concentrations of hyrogen peroxide reported in this article were far lower than what you use.  As I said before, the hydrogen peroxide you applied would have killed HIV if it had contacted the virus.

I also recommend that you stay off the internet. Just as occurred with your most recent search, you are likely to encounter mis-information.  EWH

[mmadden1435]

Seriously I really thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I am sorry to sound so upset and i am usually very level headed and have seen more than a few crazy things on the job.  It just really bother me and you have done such a great job to relieve my fears.  The only thing i want to ask is the above question and i will move along indebted to you.  If you have ever heard of this theory above about the reactivation or if that only happens on the inside of the body not on the outside and if anything can really reactivate the virus once outside the body?  I am glad to have stumbled on this website while googling and i will educate myself on the ways of getting hiv so i dont get so scared just when i see some blood.  Is hydrogen peroxide okay to clean off blood for future reference as well.  Thanks again for staying up late and doing a great work.  This will be my last comment.

[mmadden1435]

Also dr while i am waiting for you to respond i have looked on the internet and see some articles about hydrogen peroxide reactivating the HIV virus. Is this true? and if i would have cleaned the dry blood off of my hands with hydrogen peroxide and it got in my eye am i know at greater risk because of using the hydrogen peroxide and it reactiving a dead virus?  Please help me because after seeing this i am even more worried and feel to crazy to ask anyone at work about this. This is the link below when they talk about bathing in hydrogen peroxide.  Would that be different than getting hiv blood wet that is outside the body with hydrogen peroxide into your eye?  Also i am not sure how old the peroxide is and how it is stored if that matters.  I have looked at previous comments you made and you say even water kills the virus so at the very least even if old and not properly stored it should kill the virus right?   Thank you for the work you do.

"Reactive Oxygen Intermediates as Apparently Widely Used
Messengers in the Activation of the NF-Kappa-B Transcription
Factor and HIV-1," by Ralf Schreck and others, EMBO JOURNAL pages
2247-2258, August 1991.

Mark

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to the Forum.  I know that when we find that  we've been in contact in a situation of the sort you describe we can begin to worry.  It is my pleasure to tell you that there is no risk of HIV from the exposures you describe.  Let me elaborate:

1.  You do not know that this person has HIV.  Fewer than 1 in 5 IV drug users have HIV.
2.  Even if he did, there is no risk of HIV.  This is because the virus dies very quickly on exposure to the environment.  Thus if HIV was in the blood, it would have been dead by the time you wipe your eye.
3.  If there was HIV mixed with hydrogen peroxide, the hydrogen peroxide would have killed it.
4.  There has never been a case of HIV resulting from the sort of hand to eye contact that you describe.

Please do not worry, there is no reason. There is no need for testing. I hope my comment is helpful.EWH