Does HIV die in air? HIV infection. You should know it. HIV sensitivity to environmental factors

March 22, 2013 Category:

It is known that the immunodeficiency virus dies in the open air after a few minutes. It is also believed that HIV can survive in a syringe much longer. In general, various, often contradictory, data are given about how long the virus can live. Which sources to believe?

Regarding the viability of HIV outside the human body, there is more than one misconception. Scientific data is also often misinterpreted. Laboratory experiments usually use saturated concentrations of the virus that are hundreds of thousands of times higher than those found in nature. And even despite such a high concentration, HIV can exist from 1 to 3 days after the liquid dries.

Does this mean that in natural concentrations HIV is capable of surviving outside the human body for more than two to three days? Of course no.

The concentration of the virus used in experiments exceeds the natural concentration by hundreds of thousands of times. This means that under normal conditions HIV is unable to exist for more than two to three minutes outside the human body. Therefore, it is impossible to become infected with HIV at home.

At the same time, science knows that the lifespan of HIV inside a syringe depends on many factors. For example, how much blood and virus is in the needle, what is the ambient temperature. As a rule, the amount of blood that is directly in the needle depends on the size of the needle. And also on whether the blood was drawn into the needle.

One experiment examined syringes containing blood contaminated with a high titer of HIV-1. As a result, it was found that the virus remained viable even after 48 days, provided it was stored at a stable temperature. It was also found that the virus was losing its viability. And, after 10 days, live virus was found in 26% of syringes. The preservation of the virus was facilitated by low temperatures and a large amount of blood in the syringe.

Also, as a result of the experiment, it was found that at high temperatures, low titers and in a small amount of blood, the virus loses its viability.

For the purpose of preventive work on injection transmission of HIV, it must be remembered that a syringe that has been used or a needle that has not been sterilized can carry a live virus. This danger may exist for several days.

The immunodeficiency virus (monkeys and humans) was isolated in the 80s of the 20th century. It is known that the human version of this virus, under certain conditions, can cause a deadly disease - AIDS. The gradual loss of the body's defenses leads sooner or later to the death of the sick person.
These general data gave rise to many rumors about the virus itself, its persistence and methods of transmission to humans.

How long does HIV live outside the body?

Routes of infection

Several routes of human infection with the immune deficiency virus have been proven.

Percentage of causes of HIV infection

Diagram of HIV's immune system damage

Important! Even with such an obvious probability of infection, the virus does not always “take root” in the body. To do this, several conditions must coincide.

Prerequisites that increase the likelihood of infection:

a large amount of contaminated material;
prolonged and direct contact with blood;
reduced body resistance (for example, after a serious illness or during the newborn period, when immunity has not yet been formed).

Video - First symptoms of HIV

Factors unfavorable for transmission of infection

Despite the hype that arose around the immunodeficiency virus at the end of the 20th century, as well as despite the myths created at the same time, the spread of the infection did not become fatal for humanity. This is explained by the characteristics of the virus itself and the ability to protect against it if you follow basic rules.

Structure of the HIV virus

Observations over more than a third of a century have shown that it is transmitted:

Important! If fluids from the body of a person known to be infected with HIV accidentally come into contact with an open wound, you must seek preventive care at a medical facility.

Number of HIV infected people in Russia in 2015

Features of the virus

The low contagiousness of HIV is explained by its inability to exist outside the human body or without nutrient media. For the conditions for the death of the virus, see the table.

Conditions	Index	Decontamination time
Increased ambient temperature	+ 56°С	Instantly
Temperature reduction	- 1°C	24 hours (with slow freezing)
Temperature reduction	- 10°С	10 days (with quick freezing)
Defrosting	0 – +5°С	Instantly
Drying	Complete absence of moisture	12 hours
Exposure to detergents	Wet cleaning	In process of treatment

As you can see, the viability of the human immunodeficiency virus outside organic liquids is extremely low. It’s not for nothing that doctors consider him a “sissy.” Outside risk groups, HIV infection is an accident, not a norm or a coincidence.

Vide - What is HIV

Infectious diseases - general information on the site

Infectious diseases include a broad group of diseases caused by specific pathogenic (disease-causing) agents and transmitted from an infected individual to a healthy one. The characteristics of infectious diseases are their contagiousness (infectiousness), the ability for mass epidemic spread, the cyclical nature of the course and the formation of post-infectious immunity. However, these features are expressed to varying degrees in different infectious diseases.

Infectious diseases develop as a result of a complex biological process of interaction between a pathogenic microorganism and a susceptible microorganism under certain conditions. There are several periods in the development of infectious diseases: incubation (hidden), prodromal (precursor period), period of development of clinical manifestations, period of disease outcome. The outcome of the infectious process can develop in several ways: convalescence (recovery), mortality, bacterial carriage, transition to a chronic form.

Infectious diseases make up from 20 to 40% of the total structure of human diseases. Many medical and microbiological disciplines are involved in the study, treatment and prevention of infections: infectious diseases themselves, epidemiology, venereology, urology, gynecology, therapy, phthisiology, otolaryngology, immunology, virology, etc.

The number of infectious diseases known to science is constantly increasing and currently numbers more than 1200 units. During his life, a person comes into contact with a huge number of microorganisms, but only 1/30,000 of this community is capable of causing infectious processes. Viruses, rickettsiae, bacteria, and fungi have pathogenic properties.

Depending on the place of primary localization of the process and the specific mechanism of transmission, infectious diseases are divided into intestinal (dysentery, cholera, salmonellosis, escherichiosis, paratyphoid A and B, abdominal, foodborne toxic infections); respiratory tract infections (ARVI, influenza, chicken pox, measles, mycoplasma respiratory infection); external integument (erysipelas, anthrax, scabies); blood infections (HIV infection, malaria, yellow fever, relapsing and typhus); infections with multiple routes of transmission (enteroviral infections, infectious mononucleosis).

According to the nature of the pathogen, infectious diseases are distinguished: viral (viral hepatitis A, B, D, E and C, influenza, rubella, measles, cytomegalovirus and herpetic infections, HIV infection, meningococcal infection, hemorrhagic fevers); bacterial (staphylococcal and streptococcal infections, cholera, salmonellosis, plague, dysentery); protozoans (malaria, trichomoniasis, amoebiasis); fungal infections (aspergillosis, candidiasis, athlete's foot, cryptococcosis).

Infectious diseases are divided into anthroponotic and zoonotic. Anthroponoses include those that are unique to humans and transmitted from person to person (smallpox, diphtheria, typhoid fever, measles, dysentery, cholera, etc.). Zoonoses are diseases of animals that can also infect humans (foot-and-mouth disease, anthrax, rabies, tularemia, plague, listeriosis, leptospirosis, brucellosis).

Among infectious diseases, there is a group of especially dangerous (quarantine) infections with a high degree of contagiousness, a tendency to spread rapidly, a severe epidemic course and a high risk of death within the shortest possible time from the moment of infection. The World Health Organization lists especially dangerous infections as plague, smallpox (considered eradicated from the world since 1980), cholera, yellow fever (and Marburg fever and Ebola, which are similar in epidemiology). In our country, tularemia and anthrax are also considered particularly dangerous infections.

Treatment of patients with infectious diseases is carried out in specialized hospitals or departments, in mild cases - at home. A prerequisite for successful treatment of infections is adherence to a strict anti-epidemic regime. Prevention of most infectious diseases is compliance with sanitary and hygienic rules and specific immunization.

The immunodeficiency virus is a great danger for any person, as it causes an incurable disease that significantly shortens life expectancy and reduces its quality. By avoiding unprotected sexual intercourse and the use of unsterile medical and manicure instruments, a person protects himself from contracting this deadly disease. But is this enough to maintain your health, because there are more and more patients with immunodeficiency, and often everyone encounters them in a wide variety of places. How long does HIV live in water? This is quite an exciting question. Is it possible to become infected with HIV through water when swimming in rivers or public swimming pools? The answers to these questions can be found below.

Does the HIV virus survive in water?

The microorganism can enter any liquid or body of water only with the blood or other physiological secretions of a sick person (sperm, vaginal secretions). This begs the question: does HIV live in water?

The HIV virus can remain in water for a very short period of time, maintaining its contagiousness. This period is often not enough to enter the human body and cause a dangerous disease. Virions can maintain their vital activity only in the conditions of a living organism. This is due to the acidity necessary for the pathogens to live, the ambient temperature and the availability of nutrients. If at least one of these factors is excluded, the virus stops reproducing and dies immediately.

How long does the HIV virus live in water?

The causative agent of immunodeficiency dies when the cells in which it lives are destroyed. From this fact it follows that, entering the liquid as part of the cells of biological substances, the retrovirus dies after the amount of time that this structure can survive outside the human body. If the virus, for example, is in sperm, it will die in a few minutes, since the germ cells will lose their mobility and dissolve in the liquid. With blood, the situation is more complicated - in it the pathogen can remain contagious for a longer period, but due to a sharp decrease in temperature in the external environment, it will die almost instantly.

Is HIV transmitted through water?

Definitely no. The retrovirus is not transmitted through this substance, food or air.

Considering the above facts, the question “Does HIV die in water?” we can without a doubt give an affirmative answer, because the causative agent of this pathology can retain its activity only in the cells of the carrier. Under other conditions, this microorganism loses its viability very quickly. It is almost impossible to become infected by swimming in a pond or eating food prepared by a carrier of the infection.

14 Mar 2017, 00:00

HIV infection virus
Every year, the HIV virus infects thousands of people, causing severe, incurable disease. People infected with the HIV (AIDS) virus receive free medications. They are purchased by the state in advance. Annually...

In the open air, the virus dies within a few minutes. It can live much longer inside the syringe. Various, often contradictory, data are provided about the viability of HIV. Where is the truth?

There are many misconceptions and misinterpretations of scientific evidence regarding HIV's life outside the human body. Laboratory studies use virus concentrations that are at least 100,000 times higher than those found in nature. When such artificially high concentrations are used, HIV can remain alive for 1-3 days after the liquid has dried.

Does this mean that HIV in natural concentrations can live outside the human body for up to three days? Of course not. Laboratory concentrations are at least 100,000 times higher than natural concentrations. If we extrapolate the research data to the natural concentration of the virus, we see that HIV can only live outside the body for a few minutes. If HIV lived outside the body for many hours or days (in its natural concentrations), we would undoubtedly observe cases of household infection - but they do not happen.

Of particular interest is the lifespan of HIV inside a syringe or hollow needle. It turned out that it is influenced by a number of factors, including the amount of blood in the needle, the titer (amount) of the virus in the blood, and the ambient temperature. The amount of blood in the needle depends in part on the size of the needle and whether the blood is drawn into the needle.

In one study of syringes containing blood infected with very high titers of HIV-1, some needles were found to contain viable virus after 48 days of storage at constant temperature. At the same time, the viability of the virus decreases over time: after 2-10 days of storage, live virus was isolated in only 26% of syringes. The preservation of the live virus was also facilitated by the large volume of blood in the syringe and low storage temperatures. Virus viability is lower at low titers, at high or fluctuating temperatures, and at low blood volumes.

To prevent injection transmission of HIV, it should be assumed that a used syringe or hollow needle (unsterilized) may contain live virus for several days.

Name: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), AIDS

In 1982, scientists were able to find out that the cause of AIDS is a virus that attacks the cells of the human immune system, making them unable to protect the body from diseases. For the second decade now, humanity has been trying to curb this primitive but insidious microorganism - the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Immunodeficiency virus belongs to lentiviruses (slow viruses), a subgroup of retroviruses. It is depicted as similar to an anti-submarine mine, on the surface of which there are glycoprotein “mushrooms” that serve as a master key for the virus to penetrate a human blood cell. Although a human cell contains 100,000 times more genetic information than the virus itself, HIV wins and, having taken possession of the cell, destroys it.

The salvation from the virus is that infection occurs only in certain situations, and it can be prevented. Even if HIV has entered the body, modern medications can stop it from multiplying.

How long does the virus live outside the human body?

In the open air, the virus dies within a few minutes. It can live much longer inside the syringe. Various, often contradictory, data provide information about the viability of HIV. Where is the truth?

Does this mean that HIV in its natural concentration can live outside the human body for up to three days? Of course not. HIV can live outside the body for only a few minutes. If HIV lived outside the body for many hours or days (in its natural concentrations), we would undoubtedly observe cases of household infection - but they do not happen.

Of particular interest is the period of HIV life inside a syringe or hollow needle. It turned out that it is influenced by a number of factors, including the amount of blood in the needle, the titer (number) of the virus in the blood, and the ambient temperature. The amount of blood in the needle depends in part on the size of the needle and whether the blood is drawn into the needle.

In one study of syringes containing blood infected with very high titres of HIV-1, some needles were found to contain viable virus after 48 days of storage at constant temperature. At the same time, the viability of the virus decreases over time: after 2–10 days of storage, live virus was isolated in only 26% of syringes. The preservation of the live virus was also facilitated by the large volume of blood in the syringe and low storage temperatures. Virus viability is lower at low titers, at high or fluctuating temperatures, and at low blood volumes. To prevent injection transmission of HIV, it should be assumed that a used syringe or hollow needle (without sterilization) may contain live virus for several days.

Proportion of HIV infections by different modes of transmission

All registered cases of HIV infection in the world are distributed by route of infection as follows:

sexually – 70–80%;
injection drugs – 5–10%;
occupational infection of health workers – less than 0.01%;
transfusion of contaminated blood – 3–5%;
from a pregnant or nursing mother to a child – 5–10%.

In different states and regions, various routes of infection predominate (homosexual, heterosexual, injection drugs).

Risk for health workers

At the end of 1996, the US Centers for Disease Control registered 52 cases of occupational infection of health workers during the entire epidemic in the country. Of these, 45 infections occurred through needle pricks, and the rest when contaminated blood or laboratory fluid with a concentrated virus got into wounds on the skin, eyes, mouth or mucous membranes. The average statistical risk of infection was calculated: with an accidental needle prick it is 0.3% (1 in 300), if the virus gets into damaged skin, eyes or mucous membranes it is 0.1% (1 in 1,000).

Risk during sexual intercourse

It is estimated that the average risk of HIV transmission as a result of a single unprotected anal intercourse for the “receiving” partner ranges from 0.8% to 3.2% (from 8 to 32 cases per 1,000). With one-time vaginal contact, the statistical risk for a woman is from 0.05% to 0.15% (from 5 to 15 cases per 10,000).

for the “receiving” partner, when the second partner is HIV+, – 0.82%;
for the “receiving” partner, when the HIV status of the second partner is unknown – 0.27%;
for the “introducing” partner – 0.06%.

When having unprotected oral sex with a man, the risk for the “receiving” partner is 0.04%. There is virtually no risk for the "administering" partner since he is only in contact with saliva (unless, of course, there is bleeding or open wounds in the "receiving" partner's mouth).

The low average risk of infection from a single contact is not a reason to be complacent. In the study cited above, 9 out of 60, that is, 15% of those infected, acquired HIV as a result of one or two episodes of unprotected “receptive” anal sex.

Factors that increase the risk of infection through sexual contact

The risk of infection for both partners increases with concomitant sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

Sexually transmitted diseases are rightly called “gateways for the virus” because they cause ulcers or inflammation of the mucous membrane of the genital organs. At the same time, a large number of lymphocytes, especially those that serve as a target for HIV (T-4 lymphocytes), arrive at the plane of the mucous membrane. Inflammation also causes changes in the cell membrane, which increases the risk of virus entry.

The likelihood of a woman getting infected from a man through sexual contact is approximately three times higher than a man getting it from a woman.

When a woman has unprotected sexual intercourse, a large amount of the virus contained in the man’s seminal fluid enters the body. The surface area through which the virus can penetrate inside is much larger in women (vaginal mucosa). In addition, HIV is more concentrated in seminal fluid than in vaginal secretions. The risk for a woman increases with STDs, cervical erosion, wounds or inflammation of the mucous membrane, during menstruation, and also with rupture of the hymen.

The risk of infection for both men and women increases if the partner has cervical erosion. For a woman - since erosion is a favorable environment for the virus. For a man - since in an HIV-positive woman, erosion can lead to the peeling of cells containing the virus from the cervix.

The risk of infection during anal intercourse is much higher than during vaginal intercourse, since there is a high probability of injury to the mucous membrane of the anus and rectum, which creates an “entry gate” for infection.

It must also be said that the problem of AIDS is not only a medical problem, but also a psychological and social one. This was especially evident at the beginning of the epidemic, when the main feeling towards HIV-infected people was the fear of becoming infected, multiplied by the lack of reliable information about how HIV infection can and cannot occur.

People carrying HIV literally became outcasts; people were afraid to even talk to them. The same idea of risk groups also played a negative role: in the minds of most people, an AIDS patient was either a drug addict or a prostitute, who deserved such a fate and were unworthy of even simple sympathy.

In relation to mutual expectations between HIV-infected people and society, the term “stigmatization” is often used - the rejection of some people by others, and the feelings that rejected people experience, their expectation of those negative reactions from others that lead to discrimination.

In order to avoid such discrimination against HIV-infected people, it is very important to know what HIV is, how it is transmitted and how it is not transmitted.

Measures to prevent discrimination include the creation of appropriate legislation and procedures for its implementation. AIDS is not a problem of certain “groups”, but of all humanity as a whole, and this will need to be understood. It should be added that in our time the picture is gradually changing for the better, and the attitude towards AIDS patients, through the efforts of psychologists, HIV consultants and doctors, is beginning to change to more compassionate and kind.

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Abbreviation (abbreviation) - Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Causes a disease, the advanced form of which is called AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).