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Is There A Risk Of HIV In Instruments Used To Examine The Nose?

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Posted on Mon, 13 Jan 2014
Question: i had a doctor at the state of the art clinic in Arlington, XXXXXXX look into my nose to see where the bleeding was coming from. He found nothing suspicious and told me it was probably just my allergies in combination with the dry winter air. However, since I suffer from a pretty bad case of health anxiety, now I am obsessing about whether the camera probe he put into my nose was clean. Please tell me can one get infected like that with HIV?
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Answered by Dr. Shoaib Khan (1 hour later)
Brief Answer: Highly unlikely ma'am, but you may get tested Detailed Answer: Hello ma'am and welcome. Thank you for writing to us. The procedure conducted is called a nasal endoscopy and is a sterile procedure ma'am. The apparatus used has to be sterilized before it can be used to investigate a procedure and thus, this in itself reduces the chances of transmission of any/all infections. As for HIV, it would be highly unlikely for the infection to be transmitted in such a manner, so I would not really worry about this ma'am. If at all you require getting yourself checked, then this would be testing for your satisfaction and not testing to rule out a possibility. You may request for a HIV DUO test that can be conducted after 28 days of contact with a possible HIV infected source. I hope you find my response both helpful and informative, please feel free to write back to me for any further clarifications, I would be more than happy to help you. Best wishes.
Note: Consult an experienced Otolaryngologist / ENT Specialist online for further follow up on ear, nose, and throat issues - Book a Call now.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Dr. Shoaib Khan

General & Family Physician

Practicing since :2009

Answered : 9409 Questions

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Is There A Risk Of HIV In Instruments Used To Examine The Nose?

Brief Answer: Highly unlikely ma'am, but you may get tested Detailed Answer: Hello ma'am and welcome. Thank you for writing to us. The procedure conducted is called a nasal endoscopy and is a sterile procedure ma'am. The apparatus used has to be sterilized before it can be used to investigate a procedure and thus, this in itself reduces the chances of transmission of any/all infections. As for HIV, it would be highly unlikely for the infection to be transmitted in such a manner, so I would not really worry about this ma'am. If at all you require getting yourself checked, then this would be testing for your satisfaction and not testing to rule out a possibility. You may request for a HIV DUO test that can be conducted after 28 days of contact with a possible HIV infected source. I hope you find my response both helpful and informative, please feel free to write back to me for any further clarifications, I would be more than happy to help you. Best wishes.