FROM S. Dinesh Gopinath, I.A.S, Director of Medical & Research Div, Chennai

Dear Friends,

Kindly take a couple of minutes to go thru this mail. If useful may advise others also. Please pass this on to others this happened in Paris recently and may happen elsewhere.

A few weeks ago, in a movie theatre, a person felt something poking from her seat. When she got up to see what it was, she found a needle sticking out of the seat with a note-attached saying "You have just been infected by HIV". The Disease Control Center (in Paris) reports many similar events in many other cities recently. All tested needles
were HI V Positive.

The Center also reports that needles have been found in cash dispensers at public banking machines. We ask everyone to use extreme caution when faced with this kind of situation. All public chairs/seats should be inspected with vigilance and caution before use. A careful visual inspection should be enough. In addition, they ask that each of you pass this message along to all members of your family and your friends of the potential danger.

Recently, one doctor has narrated a somewhat similar instance that happened to one of his patients at the Priya Cinema in Delhi. A young girl engaged and about to be married in a couple of months, was pricked while the movie was going on. The tag with the needle had the message "Welcome to the World of HIV family". Though the doctors told, her family that it takes about 6 months before the virus grows strong enough to start damaging the system and a healthy victim could survive about 5-6 years, the girl died in 4 months, perhaps more because of the "Shock thought". We all have to be careful at public places, rest God help! Just think about saving a life by forwarding this message. Please, take a few seconds of your time to pass
along.

With Regards, S. Dinesh Gopinath,
I.A.S, Director of Medical & Research Div, Chennai.
Rather than forwarding irrelevant mails, kindly pass
this to every one.
Probably ur mail can help some save his/her life.

Source : Forwarded email :)

- http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/insite?page=ask-05-11-09



Can HIV Survive Outside the Body: Is This a Hoax?
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November 9, 2005
Answered by Mark Vogel, MA, HIV InSite Associate Editor for Prevention and Policy
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Question

Can HIV survive outside human body? I've been reading e-mails about people that are infected by HIV just because the sat on a sofa that has a needle with HIV-infected blood pumping through it. Does it really happen?
Answer

Great question. A lot of people wonder how long HIV can survive outside of the body. The simple answer is that HIV does not survive very well outside of the body. In CDC studies with super high concentrations (more than you would likely come across in any natural encounter), HIV cannot survive for more than a couple of hours because drying of even these high concentrations of HIV reduces the amount of infectious virus by 90% to 99% within several hours. Basically, once the infected bodily fluid is dry, the risk is essentially zero.

The question of a needle-stick exposure is a little more complicated because a needle can contain HIV-infected blood that has not dried. However, the widely circulating e-mails about HIV-infected needles stuck in sofas, movie theater seats, pay phone coin returns (Does anyone use pay phones anymore?!), etc. are hoaxes.

- http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pubs/faq/faq35.htm



How well does HIV survive outside the body?

Scientists and medical authorities agree that HIV does not survive well outside the body, making the possibility of environmental transmission remote. HIV is found in varying concentrations or amounts in blood, semen, vaginal fluid, breast milk, saliva, and tears. To obtain data on the survival of HIV, laboratory studies have required the use of artificially high concentrations of laboratory-grown virus. Although these unnatural concentrations of HIV can be kept alive for days or even weeks under precisely controlled and limited laboratory conditions, CDC studies have shown that drying of even these high concentrations of HIV reduces the amount of infectious virus by 90 to 99 percent within several hours. Since the HIV concentrations used in laboratory studies are much higher than those actually found in blood or other specimens, drying of HIV-infected human blood or other body fluids reduces the theoretical risk of environmental transmission to that which has been observed - essentially zero. Incorrect interpretations of conclusions drawn from laboratory studies have in some instances caused unnecessary alarm.

Results from laboratory studies should not be used to assess specific personal risk of infection because (1) the amount of virus studied is not found in human specimens or elsewhere in nature, and (2) no one has been identified as infected with HIV due to contact with an environmental surface. Additionally, HIV is unable to reproduce outside its living host (unlike many bacteria or fungi, which may do so under suitable conditions), except under laboratory conditions; therefore, it does not spread or maintain infectiousness outside its host.

More on hiv hoaxes

- http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/hoaxes/hivneedles.html

- http://www.hoax-slayer.com/hiv-needle-hoax.html

Being a doctor I can say that who ever wrote this piece is not a doctor or even a medical professional of anykind.So,please change the title,its not from a doctor.
If you get pricked by a needle from a HIV patient then ur chance of getting HIV is around 1 in 250,that is if the prick is immediate and also if it is a hollow needle.HIV virus cannot survive in the environment so keeping it in a needle for hours is not possible.
One thing really proves it to be a hoax and that is the story about the couple.It takes around 12 weeks for most of the infected people to be HIV positive but to develop AIDS it will take anytime between 5 to 10 years.It is really stupid to say that a person got pricked and died within 4 months due to HIV.
If anyone reading this post is ever exposed to HIV,Please note that we have very effective post exposure prophylaxis(drug that we can use after being exposed).Its a four drug regime and u have to take for one month and it decreases the chance of you getting the disease to a minimum.

need more clarification from Doctors......
waiting........