Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date. Hello Doctor, I have a few questions:
1)How long does the HIV virus survive outside the body?
2)Does the HIV Virus live on the dried blood stains or any body fluid which is present on a needle or scissor, or any other device that are placed in a closed desk or cupboard (when the instruments are not exposed to air)?
I am anxious to know answers to these 2 questions because I accidentally came in contact with a scissor that is placed in a closed cupboard.
I will be very much grateful to you for your kind information.
Mark H. Katz, M.D.
Regional HIV/AIDS Physician Coordinator
Kaiser Permanente of Southern California
Hello!
There are very few studies which actually look at the ability of the virus to survive outside of the body, let alone cause transmission. Traditional wisdom, and experience with other micro-organisms, would indicate that after a period of time (minutes to hours?) when the blood or other fluid has dried, one could not reasonably postulate that transmission could occur. (Of course there will never be a study to either prove or disprove this, as one would have to see whether a virus outside of the body causes infection when injected back into someone after a certain period of time. Not something we are likely to ever see happen!)
That said, there was a study presented at the 1998 World AIDS Conference in Geneva, by Masters et al, entitled, " HIV Recovery From Syringes [Int Conf AIDS. 1998 Jun 28-Jul 3;12:Abstract No. 23222]." (I could not find evidence that the study was ever published subsequent thereto.) In this study, 9 insulin syringes were inoculated with HIV+ saline (mimicking actual body concentrations of HIV in the blood). The contents were expelled and after a specified dry time interval (between 1 hour and 21 days), the residual material was cultured for HIV. Results were: HIV could be cultured from all specimens at 0, 1, 2, and 4 hours, but HIV could not be cultured from any specimen at 8 hours or at 24 hours or longer.
Anyway, this evidence still doesn't prove things as to a specific "time frame," but in your case, since the scissors you came in contact with had likely been there a while, I think it is most unlikely you could have contracted HIV this way.
Good luck!
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