HIV testing - A standard part of your yearly physical

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by honeychile

Hippa doesn't cover insurance companies - they know more about your health than you probably do.

Whoops, not true.

Originally Posted by honeychile

But for the most part, I'm all for it, along with testing for Hep C. Most people don't realize that even blood from a Hep C infected person that has been dry for a week is active and can still infect someone else.

Actually Hep C can survive for up to two weeks out of the body in a nutrient-rich environment (which, by the way, is absurdly long - HIV lasts mere minutes outside the body) . . . but since the blood should probably be dried by then, your chances of actual infection are not nearly as large as if the blood were dry, so yeah, it's kind of alarmist.

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

Whoops, not true.

Source, please? That's not what our Health Officials told us.

Originally Posted by KSig RC

Actually Hep C can survive for up to two weeks out of the body in a nutrient-rich environment (which, by the way, is absurdly long - HIV lasts mere minutes outside the body) . . . but since the blood should probably be dried by then, your chances of actual infection are not nearly as large as if the blood were dry, so yeah, it's kind of alarmist.

The dried blood is still infectious, up to seven days, as per our Health Offiicials. If you want to take the chance, fine. I chose not to do so.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by honeychile

Source, please? That's not what our Health Officials told us.

GP covered this thirteen posts ago. She even directly quoted you.

Originally Posted by GeekyPenguin

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, HIPAA does cover insurance companies.

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

GP covered this thirteen posts ago. She even directly quoted you.

I stand corrected (see how easy it is to admit a mistake?), as I misspoke. GP said what I was meaning to say.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by honeychile

The dried blood is still infectious, up to seven days, as per our Health Offiicials. If you want to take the chance, fine. I chose not to do so.

If the virus is alive, the blood is infectious. This is borderline silly - do you understand how infection works? It's considerably more difficult without a delivery vehicle (liquid -> fluid -> mixes easily with other fluids -> introduction to blood stream = infection) - there's obviously still a risk, and you shouldn't handle blood/fluids without precaution no matter what, but there's a different order of magnitude in what it would take to infect.

Like I said - it's somewhat alarmist, although I'm sure your Health Officials, while apparently highly fallible, were simply trying to give you 'worst-case' to keep you safe.