HIV in nursery

[worriedperson]

AIBU to worry about this?
The guides I have read all say there is no risk of infection as long as proper hygiene procedures are carried out.
However, the staff, although good in other ways, are not that hygiene-conscious, for example, they send children home in wet pants, having not noticed they have had an accident.
Is there any real risk of catching it?
Also, what if one child bites another?

Is there someone in the nursery with HIV? I'm really confused about where you're coming from.

Are you having a laugh? Since when did you get HIV from your own wee? And what about all the other things kids are likely to give each other, such as tummy upsets or colds. Are you suggesting everyone who comes into contact with your child should have a HIV test?

not sure either

But how would they know, they wouldn't have to tell anyone even if they were HIV....

are you worried about an HIV + child? hence the biting question?

my understanding is the virus cannot survive outside the body and there has to be transference via open wounds/cuts or somethin glike that

you would not have a right to know if anyone who worked at your childs nursery was HIV in anycase.

HIV is an STD. Unless the children in nursery are having sex with each other or giving each other blood transfusions from one arm to another, you don't really have anything to worry about.

I think you are being a little overcautious.

HIV can only be passed on through the exchange of bodily fluids. So I guess if a child bit another child deeply enough to draw blood and then spat into the wound, yes, there's a small chance of HIV transmission but that would be true whether you're at nursery or in the playground and assumes that lots of children in your nursery have HIV. Where are you? If you're in England, I don't know the percentages, but I'd imagine the percentage of children with HIV is low which, combined with the extraodinarily low liklihood of this level of bodily fluid exchange, means the risk to your child is almost non existent.

Is there a reason you're worried about HIV? I'd be far more concerned if hygiene is an issue about day to day illnesses and transmission of disease.

Sorry, have you had a note stating someone has HIV? It would be odd if you had. When I worked in a Nursery we had a child with Hep C. I was NOT told who that child was. Or is this a random concern?

It has to be blood to blood contact to catch it but it could be passed by biting if the person biting had a cut in mouth and broke the skin of the person he bit... But still confused about op as they wouldn't have to tell anyone so how would nursery know?

YANBU to be concerned, however, no-one knows who has or hasn't got HIV, so this shouldn't be of concern only in nursery. Universal precautions when coming into contact with body fluids will minimise risk, that should apply everywhere, not jusrt at nursery.
YOu can't tell if someone has it, and if you use the above measures, you, or your child are not at risk....and with regards to biting, there is such a miniaml amount of the virus in the saliva, your child would need to drink pints of an infected persons saliva to be at risk, so the risk is miniscule.

I don't understand your op? If there is a staff member or child at the nursery with HIV, how do you about it? They don't have to make parents aware. But if there is/you think there is than a) the risk of infection is minimal. Like another poster said it has to be a transfer of bodily fluid. It's not very easy to catch HIV and b) it's none of your business.

There is apparently a child with HIV in nursery.
I know parents should not be told, but things do get out.
I have name changed so that anyone who knows me will not work out which nursery, with new child x.
And no, I am not having a laugh.
If it can be transferred in bodily fluids, urine is a bodily fluid isn't it?
The staff do not seem to bother much with changing a wet child. They either don't always notice or don't bother if it is nearly the end of day.
And what about biting? A bite is an open wound.

How much do you bet an African child has recently joined the nursery? May be way off base but this question is a little bit too weird, and why namechange?

No HIV does not transfer through urine. The child would have to break the skin of the child they bit, and transfer some of their own blood into the wound of the other child. Very unlikely.

the HIV positive child would have to bite the other child hard enough to draw blood and then ensure saliva or their own blood went directly into the puncture wound ?

it cannot survive outside the body so can't be transferred via a toilet seat or urine soaked clothing.

but leaving childrne in wet clothing is not good practice anyway

Am a HIV education adviser amongst other things. You would not know if a child with HIV was in the nursery but as other posters have pointed out it would be low risk to catch it as it is only transmitted through blood, semen, vaginal fluid and breastmilk. Not through wee or saliva. Biting would carry a very very low risk and would most likely need open mouth sores in the biter and biting a hiv+ child- if the HIV+ child was the biter very unlikely to transmit.

Depending on where you are in the country you are unlikely to encounter an HIV positive child. Where I work in London there are approximately 20known positive cases (known to HCPS not childcare settings) in my borough but unknown rates probably higher due to reluctance for testing (also if mothers don't know they are HIV positive then they may not know if they have passed it to child- unlikely since pregnant women are now all tested for HIV but if your child was born in another country this may not be the case.)

Standard protocol for dealing with blood needs to be followed in all childcare settings including wearing gloves and safe disposal of blood stained sharps, gauzes etc. If that is followed then there is virtually no risk of infection.

Note Hepatitis is much much more infectious than HIV. Not my specialist area at all but one of the Heps is defo transmitted in Urine so while HIV isn't really a worry - the lack of hygiene considerations probably is.

I am far more concerned that the staff 'don't bother' changing a wet child.

And you leave your child there?

Good Lord.

I agree with Erci Northman. Yes Immigrant child with a thin and ill looking mother

as already mentioned the virus is not present in saliva in quantities enough to cause infection. When was the last time you heard some say that kissing can spread HIV? Nor is it in urine.

However if you think your child is at risk from ingesting quantities of urine at nursery, you have more pressing concerns than who may or may not have HIV.

None of my business? shinyandnew How isn't my childs safety my business?
I am asking on mumsnet because it is anonymous. I have no wish to discriminate against the child. I just want to be sure.

I wouldn't be concerned in the slightest. Maybe there is a child with HIV in Dd's nursery, maybe a member is positive - it wouldn't bother me.

Sending them home in wet pants would bother me though.

"The staff do not seem to bother much with changing a wet child. They either don't always notice or don't bother if it is nearly the end of day."

If that is true, you should concentrate your efforts on getting your child into a nursery which will change nappies more frequently, rathert han pondering the statistical likelihood of your child catching HIV which you can then go and whisperingly discuss with other mums.

The wee soaked children would bother me more than hearsay about HIV.