Is this possible or are pregnancy hormones making me insane?

[Jjou]

I was tempted to name-change for this as I'm so embarrassed posting it, (despite being more of a lurker than a regular poster) but I'm driving myself a wee bit barmy, and need to type this out and get some opinions.

Last week I went to the loo in the station bathrooms - the seat was filthy and there was no paper. I cleaned the seat as best I could with the tiny bit of tissue I had (saving some of course) then I tried to hover over the seat - this didn't work as then I was almost 29 weeks preg and I'm quite large so ended up sitting down. After I got up I noticed there was a smear of not-quite-dry blood on the outer rim, and all week have been panicking on and off about possible HIV infection. I say on and off, because the logical part of brain knows this is a remote possibilty at best, and research I've done backs this up. But in the middle of the night, when pregnancy-induced insomnia strikes it doesn't seem quite so insane. The blood if I touched it would have come in contact with the back of my thighs anyway - gross but not deadly, and I don't recall seeing any more anywhere else on the seat. But it's still nagging.

I think it's because there isn't enough of my pregnancy left to get accurately tested (am 30 weeks tomorrow) and of course that's the biggest fear: giving it to my baby.

So is this just hormone-driven anxiety? Everything I can find says you can't get HIV from toilet seats, which I already know, but doesn't say anything about sitting on blood on a toilet seat. Gah!

[AllieW]

I can't see how you could get it from the blood unless you received it in a blood transfusion or licked it! You can't absorb blood through the skin so I'm sure it's fine. (And you would have had to know that your bloody predecessor was infected - the chances of that are fairly remote.)

[MustHaveaVeryShortMemory]

Yes it is hormone driven anxiety. And things are always worse in the dead of night. You have NOT contracted HIV from blood on a toilet seat that maybe brushed your skin. At worse it is disgusting.

[blonde36er]

Unless you've got an open cut on your legs at the same point that you sat on the seat then no...it would have to enter your bloodstream - and even if the blood on the seat was infected, the virus dies pretty quickly once it comes into contact with air (as the blood dries)

That's what everything I can find seems to say anyway. Why not call your MW and see if they can reassure you as well - even if you feel daft asking, it's better than lying awake at night worrying

[Hollyoaks]

OP - speak to your gp or mw if your concerned but I doubt that you could have contracted HIV from the blood (though please wait for other medically trained opinions or seek medical advise).

The HIV virus does not survive for very long outside of the human body, especially in extreme temperatures so IF the blood was infected it was highly unlikely to still be infectious. Secondly, the blood would have had to come into contact with your bodily fluids, e.g. through a cut or your vaginal secretions. Was that likely?

HTH's, however, at 27 weeks pg myself its important that you get the reassurance you need to keep yourself healthy.

[BusyMissIzzy]

Agree with AllieW; the very low probability that whoever left the blood had HIV multiplied by the also miniscule risk that the blood would somehow have gotten into your system and infected you means that it's near impossible that you've caught HIV, or anything else. I know what you mean about worrying in the middle of the night though; even the most unlikely things suddenly seem plausible. But I'm sure you're fine.

[ReneRusso]

I don't think there is any chance of you having being infected, but totally understand your worries. I agree with others, speak to a doctor or midwife.

[Jjou]

Thanks everyone everything I can find says that environmental transmission is virtually impossible (something like 10 cases world-wide or soemthing) - but I've been back and forth over everything at 3 a.m. a few times, counter-arguing with myself about what was on the seat, what touched it, how long the blood was there, if the girl in front of me was likely to have been infected and so on...

The biggest fear is that blood can pass through mucous membranes, but as I say i'm sure there was no other blood on the seat (that I noticed anyway) and I wouldn't have touched it with anything significant anyway.

I just can't talk about this with DP as this would really freak him out and risk-assessment isn't his strong suit so it would just make things worse, but it's good to hear some other perspectives echoing what the logical part of my brain says anyway.

I'll mention it to the Dr next time I go - there's no opportunity with the midwives as there's always at least 2 and a student and they're desperate to get you out of there, so not really the best environment to bring up crazy anxieties.

[ShowOfHands]

I agree with others. I think you have a bigger chance of winning the Lotto frankly.

Are you anxious about other things too? Pregnancy hormones are a funny thing but if you feel that anxiety is taking over a little bit, please tell your midwife or GP as it's possible that they can help you.

Well done you for asking on here btw. We all have silly anxieties that prey on our minds in the wee small hours.

[streetcar]

As others have said, please do check with Dr/ MW if that will help (I am on my second preg, and am a veteran of the midnight panics). But - I used to work in HIV prevention, and I can in complete honesty say to you that there is pretty much no way that you could have become infected like this. Despite its prevalence in some parts of the world (not the UK), HIV is a surprisingly difficult virus to catch in the absence of certain factors - particularly open wounds. The blood would need to be fresh in any case.

Amazingly babies born to mums living with HIV are not necessarily HIV positive themselves (in the west they almost never are because of interventions), but even in situations with no intervention only about a third go on to contract HIV - so if you think of all the blood involved in birth vs the amount of dried blood you might have come into contact with, it is very very very unlikely that you could have caught it (particularly if it never came into contact with anything other than your thighs), even if it was from someone with HIV (in itself extremely unlikely).

HTH - I went into HIV work because I spend much of my 20s obsessing over whether I had contracted it or not, so I fully sympathise.