Liberti T, Lieb S, Scott R, Nolan J, Malecki J, Kalish M, Jaffe H; International Conference on AIDS.
Int Conf AIDS. 1996 Jul 7-12; 11: 179 (abstract no. Mo.D.1728).
Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services (HRS) Office of Disease Intervention, Tallahassee, FL, USA. FAX: (904)921-8160.
Objective: To determine the route of HIV transmission in a biting incident involving an HIV-infected adult female sex worker and a man aged 90+ years who seroconverted following the exposure. Methods: The man's wounds and the biter's oral cavity were medically examined. We reviewed police and medical records. Both parties were interviewed, and blood specimens were collected, with informed consent, for DNA sequencing. Results: Several bites caused extensive tissue damage and bleeding in the man, who tested negative for HIV antibody shortly after the incident and seroconverted within 40 days. The woman was examined and interviewed in jail, where she was detained. Physical examination showed that she had bleeding gums associated with severe gingivitis. The woman initially alleged that she had had sexual contact with the man, but she later recanted. The man denied sexual contact with the woman, claiming he had been abstinent for many years. Thorough investigation revealed no evidence of sexual contact, injecting drug use or other possible route of HIV transmission to the man. DNA sequencing showed a close genetic relationship between the HIV strains from the woman and the man, consistent with person-to-person transmission. Conclusions: The epidemiologic and laboratory evidence support blood-borne transmission due to severe tissue damage and the presence of blood in the mouth of the HIV-infected biter. The determination of whether a bite represents a significant exposure to HIV should be based on physician judgment and the facts and circumstances of the specific incident. Current public health recommendations were not altered based on this investigation.
Publication Types:
Keywords:
- AIDS Vaccines
- Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
- Adult
- Counseling
- Disease Transmission, Professional-to-Patient
- Disease Transmission, Vertical
- Female
- HIV
- HIV Antibodies
- HIV Infections
- HIV Seropositivity
- Humans
- Male
- Prostitution
- blood
- transmission
Other ID:
UI: 102217664
From Meeting Abstracts