Anyone who knows me well, knows I'm sort of a germaphobe. I'm terrified of public bathrooms, I avoid touching the poles in subway trains and I'm really paranoid about nail salons. I was bringing my own manicure and pedicure tools with me for years. So you could imagine how panicked I was when I heard about that poor 22-year-old woman who apparently contracted HIV after having used shared manicure equipment. Can you freaking believe this?
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The 22-year-old woman whose name has not been revealed, has been recently diagnosed with advanced HIV. Doctors were surprised when she explained that she had never had unprotected sex. She had never shared infected needles or any other injecting equipment. But the woman did confess that she had been sharing manicure instruments years before with a cousin of hers who was later found to be HIV positive. How scary is that?
Apparently her cousin did not know she had HIV around the time they were sharing manicure instruments, which was around ten years ago. Could you imagine how surprised this woman must have been when she found out she had contracted the virus? Who knew you could contract HIV through manicure instruments that easily?
Well, according to Dr. Brian Foley, of the HIV sequence Database at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, chances of contracting HIV, this way is pretty rare. "HIV is not transmitted by casual contact, such as sharing eating utensils, or drinking from the same water glass," he told Daily Mail Online. "This transmission of HIV by shared manicure equipment is a very rare event that should serve not to make people fear HIV or contact with HIV-infected people."
But as rare as this case may be, you should still be careful with shared manicure instruments because if they contain any trace of blood then you could be at serious risk. "It should make people aware that sharing any utensils with possible blood contact such as needles used for drugs, tattoos, or acupuncture can result in transmission of viruses such as hepatitis C (HCV) and HIV," he added. I always say when it comes to manicures and pedicures in general, you should always proceed with caution. There are a ton of health risks there from catching a virus, an infection–or worse! I think I might start doing my own nails from now on!
Image via Corbis Images
