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?

It looks as if it was 'hearsay' that this child is HIV pos. Which is awful if true and awful if not true.

How do you know for sure that this is not a nasty 'rumour'?

If my child was at that nursery, I would take him out immediately. Sending kids home in soiled clothes is unacceptable, as is leaking private medical information.

There is your answer.

I have had Hep C for 13 years.

It is much more infectious than HIV and I have never infected anyone else ever including my three children whom I carried whilst knowingly having the virus.

I would worry more about things like MRSA...oh and the prejudice that carrying a bloody borne seems to incite

Blood borne sorry....

An adopted child doesn't live with their mother? Eh worriedperson??

Your choice of words here and previously make me wonder just how much of this is curiousity and how much is prejudice.

Sorry if I'm wrong, but that's just what I'm getting from you.

wee soaked children more of a problem and so is posting in AIBU

Is it me being FICK, but a 'thin looking woman' may be HIV+???

worriedperson, if this is a wind up, really it's in very poor taste.

I hope it is, because if you are for real, I pity anyone dependent on someone so ill-informed.

It's tyhe heps that would worry me more, and MRSA (which is fucking virulant)

I would be far more concerned if I was the mother of the childr with HIV - it is, after all, an immune deficiency above all else, and constant exposure to uncleaned bodily fluids will NOT give this child the best chance to remain healthy.

The chances of passing on HIV infection in this setting is pretty small. If you actually innoculated yourself with a needle containing HIV your chance of developing the infection is only about 4 in 100, so you can see accidental infection from a child on medication is going to be incredibly rare.

I suggest you get over it before this poor child (if they even exist, since you seem to be basing all this on hearsay) realises you are all talkling about them and has a massive stigmatisation to add to their list of worries.

Get your information right and stop being so small minded.

If a child is known to be HIV positive, then their condition will be under management.

HIV is a serious condition, but it is a manageable condition. It is not curable, but it is treatable.

My understanding (from my DH who is a GP) is that management is with anti-retrovirals. These drugs are extremely effective at lowering viral load, which would further reduce the risk of transmission to another person as well enabling an HIV positive individual to stay healthy.

The most common ways HIV is passed on are:

* Sex without a condom with someone living with HIV
* Sharing infected needles, syringes or other injecting drug equipment
* From an HIV-positive mother (to her child) during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding

"HIV cannot be passed on by spitting, small cuts or grazes, sharing utensils or toilets seats. No case has ever been recorded of HIV transmission from child to child by biting, fighting, playing or any other normal childhood interaction." See here for further information see this website

If there is a child with HIV at the nursery, they are at much more risk from catching diseases transmitted from other children which could make them more unwell than a child who was not HIV positive.

With respect to HIV, you have absolutely nothing to be concerned about.

LMHF to be fair, the OP didn't say that, and it was sarcastic not serious.

Hepatitis B is more infectious even than Hep C - and HIV is a frankly pathetic virus compared to that. The chance of infection is miniscule. The chances of gossip, scare mongering and ignorance doing harm far exceed the liklihood of any physical harm occurring. OP - if you have concerns about the workings of your nursery then raise them but don't make a HIV positive child a scapegoat for worries you are otherwise to gutless to deal with.

If you are concerned the risks of transmission are listed here.

As other posters have mentioned, the risk of transmission is very low, unless there is sexual intercourse (higher risk if there are sores), breastfeeding, sharing needles and blood transfusion, all of which is highly unlikely to occur at a nursery school. I hope.

Yes, the virus is carried in bodily fluids, but is very unstable when exposed to air. For example, to have a good chance of being infected by saliva, you would need to inject at least 250 mls, directly into the blood stream

(grew up in South Africa, so received a lot of education on HIV at school).

Colditz - many people carry MRSA on their skin and in their noses all the time. They are not ill nor will they become so. It is only vulnerable, unwell people with open wounds who become ill.

Seriously, sending kids out in wet pants? It's neglect, have words.

Another fecking horrible aibu thread.

Why do some posters immediately ascribe foul motives to the OP? It is a reasonable question, from someone without the necessary education in this subject.

HOW may I ask is the OP supposed to gain this knowledge if she ISN'T ALLOWED TO ASK?

I despair of this place, really I do. Among the crummy posts there are thankfully some sane, educative and sensible ones. Oh and polite.

There's no need for the nasty stuff.

Yes, but it is still very contagious.

I probably carry it - I spent many years caring for people with MRSA (and some people were very ill with it) - but am not ill. That isn't to say I can't pass it on to someone else who would become ill (like someone who has lowered immunity due to recent operation, cancer, or hiv)

Just to give you an idea about how easy it is to catch the blood borne viruses - the risk of these from a needlestick injury (which I know won't be happening in the nursery!) is:
HIV 1:300
Hep C: 1 in 30
Hep B: 1:3

The nursery will have a policy on dealing with BBVs. Have a word with the manager and check that they follow this to the letter.

I didn't mean anyone in particular LITR, though I see your point, however how does swearing at the OP actually help anything get resolved? Pointless.

Yup, have to say I'm with Flight too

I agree with Flight - sometimes I have wanted to ask a potentially sensitive question about say, religion, but dare not because I think people will say 'are you kidding me?' ' are you trying to be deliberately offensive?' etc etc when I am really just not sure on something.

Fwiw, Id probably have been a bit worried and asked the same thing. The OP has said some other odd things admittedly but the original OP isnt bad imo.

As for putting it in AIBU all it takes is to say 'perhaps thsi would be better off in health, you might get more useful replies'. I have posted in AIBU by mistake before now, its hardly a hanging offence.

'I just don't think AIBU is the place when you want information, help or advice. Or to be taken seriously, or if you namechange, and so on and so on...'

I assume because AIBU is the place for all the complete tossers to come and let out their incredible rage on people they have never met?

How dare someone ask a valid question that doesn't immediately demand abusive responses? Goodness. Spoilsports.

But flight - the op says she has the information - she just doesn't believe it!She isn't asking for education but for justification of her irrational position. It's also very much open to question how she knows this - what is the basis for her fear?
Patients with blood borne viruses are subject to a large amount of prejudice and ignorance. I don't see anybody with calling somebody on that.