Survival of HIV virus outside the body - Online Doctor Chats

User :   How long can HIV cells live in a tampon? I picked one up that was in the street in front of my house. I did not touch it with my bare hands, but my scarf accidentally brushed against it.                                                                                                                                                                                              
Doctor :   hi
Doctor :   please give me 2 minutes
Doctor :   vaginal fluid contains a much lower concentration of the virus than blood and when exposed to air will make it uninfectious.
Doctor :   HIV survives for an extremely short amount of time outside the body, about fractions of a second, nobody has ever been infected with bodily fluid outside the body
Doctor :   u there?
User :   Yes, I am here. There was a little bit of brown blood on the tampon.
Doctor :   ok
User :   Are you saying that when the blood on the tampon hit the air, it was no longer infectious.
Doctor :   but normally in ur case as it is just brown spotting
Doctor :   it might not be dangerous
Doctor :   andhiv is mainly sexually transmitted disease
Doctor :   and through blood even with a pin prick if an needle infected with hiv the chances of u getting HIV is 0.05%
Doctor :   SO dont worry
Doctor :   hiv is extremeky fragile outside environment
User :   I did not actually touch it with my bare hands, used paper towel and a bag to dispose of it, but my concern was that my muffler (it was February) brushed over at least a part of the tampon.
Doctor :   nothing to worry
User :   I will have the muffler dry cleaned before I wear it again. Good idea??
Doctor :   u can do it
Doctor :   but nothing to worry
User :   Thanks, Doctor!!
Doctor :   welcome