Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.My son recently rendered aid to a person with open bleeding wounds with AIDS. He (my son)had several scabbed over cuts on his hands. Do scabbed over wounds count as open wounds?
Mark H. Katz, M.D.
Regional HIV/AIDS Physician Coordinator
Kaiser Permanente of Southern California
I admire your son for being the humanitarian person he appears to be! There is no official data on the answer to your question. A scab which is recently formed may have some permeability and enable the virus to come in (Has it ever?... How often could this happen?... We don't know but assume it to be rare.). However, a fully formed scab should be a most effective barrier to transmission of just about anything.
I think most people in your son's position, if there was actually blood-to-skin and/or blood-to-scab, contact would actually take the antibody test. A negative test at a few weeks should be quite reassuring; at three months is definitive.
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ASKD060406
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