STIs and HIV - FAQs
Piercing and HIV
I work in a jail.
Last night we had use bolt cutters on an inmate's piercing. Her lip was bleeding a bit. The blood wasn't on the piercing, but I did get a bit of blood on my latex gloves.
When I cut through the steel ring, a piece of the ring hit my forehead. It left a tiny mark about the size of a skin pore on my head. The mark didn't bleed, so I can't tell if the metal piece broke my skin or not.
I found out later that this inmate is taking medication for HIV.
Could I have been infected? My manager said there has to be a lot of blood for you to get HIV, but for my own peace of mind I should contact a health clinic.
Should I take this seriously, or am I overreacting? I need some advice on what to do.
HIV is spread by only coming into contact with the blood (or semen, vaginal fluid or breast milk) of someone who’s infected.
(HIV can’t be spread through tears, urine or saliva. These fluids have only a very small amount of HIV in them; not enough to infect someone else.)
Using Routine Precautions — wearing gloves, goggles, gowns, etc. — helps lower the risk getting HIV. The gloves you wore had some blood on them, but they acted as a barrier between your skin and the inmate’s blood, reducing your risk of exposure to the HIV virus.
A break in the skin can let the HIV virus into your body. But in your situation, these 2 conditions would have to have happened for you to possibly be infected:
- Blood on the piece of piercing that hit your forehead. (Even if this were the case, HIV is not a very strong virus and dies very quickly once it’s exposed to open air.)
- A break on the opening of your skin. The HIV virus would have only entered your body if the piercing broke the skin of your forehead. If it left only a mark then there’s no need to worry.
We don’t know exactly how much blood there has to be for the HIV virus to spread. But from what you’ve said, none of the inmate’s blood was on the piercing. If this were the case, no blood means no HIV, so the virus couldn’t have entered your body, whether the piercing broke the skin on or not.
The correctional facility you work for should have guidelines in place about possible HIV exposure and other workplace hazards. Speak with your Workplace Health and Safety department or your Human Resources department about the policies and procedures for your specific work location.
If you want to be tested for HIV, visit one of our Healthy Sexuality Clinics. We offer free, confidential or anonymous HIV testing. Call 905-791-7700 to make an appointment or visit during our drop-in clinic hours.
If you want more information about HIV testing, visit Testing for HIV/AIDS or call Peel Public Health at 905-791-7700.
