Sign-in to Ask A Doctor - 24x7
OR
Sign in with Google
Can STD Be Contracted Through Skin Contact With Bodily Fluids?
Question: Please bare with me. This is very embarrassing. I have come in contact with toilet water and toilet bowls on numerous occasions. My OCD will not allow me to confirm proper hand washing if hand washing at all. I am positive I've had skin pulls and/or small sores on fingers and hands at times. If someone that used the toilet before me was infected with any STD and specifically, Hep B, C, D, E, and any other form of Hep and HIV is there a risk to me? Especially if the person was bleeding from hemorrhoids or the like into or around the toilet for some reason. Would the water kill these diseases?
Please help.
Please help.
Brief Answer:
There is no possibility of an STD Or Hepatitis B,C,D,E through toilet seat
Detailed Answer:
Hello. Thank you for writing to us
I have gone through your query and I have understood your concern.
It is very unlikely that one could get an STD by sharing toilet bowl/ seats.
There has to be direct contact between infected blood and non-intact skin, for any possibility of an STD happening through blood. Intact skin would be a barrier.
STD's through this mode is possible only if someone with an STD used the toilet seat and also had a bleeding lesion and somehow contaminated the seat with infected blood and you were the very next person to use that toilet seat and allowed infected blood to come into direct contact with non-intact skin on your hand.
The possibility is very less(if not Zero) that blood from a haemorrhoid would soil a toilet seat at a place where you would use your hands on toilet seats!!
The only scenario that poses any threat through sharing of toilet seats is when someone who used a toilet seat immediately before you was bleeding from thigh and left some blood on toilet seat and you were the very next to use that toilet seat and also had non-intact thigh skin at the very same place as the person who used the toilet seat before you. This scenario is so rare that it equates next to Zero!
Regards
There is no possibility of an STD Or Hepatitis B,C,D,E through toilet seat
Detailed Answer:
Hello. Thank you for writing to us
I have gone through your query and I have understood your concern.
It is very unlikely that one could get an STD by sharing toilet bowl/ seats.
There has to be direct contact between infected blood and non-intact skin, for any possibility of an STD happening through blood. Intact skin would be a barrier.
STD's through this mode is possible only if someone with an STD used the toilet seat and also had a bleeding lesion and somehow contaminated the seat with infected blood and you were the very next person to use that toilet seat and allowed infected blood to come into direct contact with non-intact skin on your hand.
The possibility is very less(if not Zero) that blood from a haemorrhoid would soil a toilet seat at a place where you would use your hands on toilet seats!!
The only scenario that poses any threat through sharing of toilet seats is when someone who used a toilet seat immediately before you was bleeding from thigh and left some blood on toilet seat and you were the very next to use that toilet seat and also had non-intact thigh skin at the very same place as the person who used the toilet seat before you. This scenario is so rare that it equates next to Zero!
Regards
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Yogesh D
How about the water? I have actually placed my hands in the toilet water to check my stool. Of course there was a flush between my use and the person prior to me. Can these survive in toilet water?
I am concerned I may have infected myself by exposer to the toilet bowl water.
I am concerned I may have infected myself by exposer to the toilet bowl water.
Brief Answer:
Most likely you are safe
Detailed Answer:
Hi.
I still think that you are safe from this particular act, even if you had broken skin on hand.
The reason being that microbial load in an infecting secretion/ blood matters for it to be infectious. Greater the microbial load higher the infectivity.
Prior flushing would have not only flushed away most of the infecting pathogen AND would have also diluted the concentration/ microbial load to very very low levels, therefore, I don't think that you have much to worry.
If it was fresh blood coming in contact with non-intact skin on your hand it would have been a different matter altogether. This was not the case.
Moreover, you are not sure that the person prior to you had any of these STD's.
However, still to be on safer side I would suggest that you may take up a test for HBV and HIV.
Regards
Most likely you are safe
Detailed Answer:
Hi.
I still think that you are safe from this particular act, even if you had broken skin on hand.
The reason being that microbial load in an infecting secretion/ blood matters for it to be infectious. Greater the microbial load higher the infectivity.
Prior flushing would have not only flushed away most of the infecting pathogen AND would have also diluted the concentration/ microbial load to very very low levels, therefore, I don't think that you have much to worry.
If it was fresh blood coming in contact with non-intact skin on your hand it would have been a different matter altogether. This was not the case.
Moreover, you are not sure that the person prior to you had any of these STD's.
However, still to be on safer side I would suggest that you may take up a test for HBV and HIV.
Regards
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Prasad
Does the treated water kill the germs?
Have you ever seen infection from toilet water?
What is your medical speciality?
Thanks for helping me out.
Have you ever seen infection from toilet water?
What is your medical speciality?
Thanks for helping me out.
Brief Answer:
Answers to specific queries
Detailed Answer:
Hi
Does the treated water kill the germs? Yes, it does.
Have you ever seen infection from toilet water? No, never.
What is your medical speciality? I am a dermatologist as well as specialist in sexually transmitted diseases. I did my MD in Skin and STD and I have more than 10 years experience after completing my MD.
Regards
Answers to specific queries
Detailed Answer:
Hi
Does the treated water kill the germs? Yes, it does.
Have you ever seen infection from toilet water? No, never.
What is your medical speciality? I am a dermatologist as well as specialist in sexually transmitted diseases. I did my MD in Skin and STD and I have more than 10 years experience after completing my MD.
Regards
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Prasad
You see no risk of infection from the toilet bowl or the toilet water even if I had sores on my hands at time of sticking my hands into the water?
Don't people drop things into the toilet all the time and without thinking retrieve it, as well as children playing in toilet water - are any of these ever infected with hepatitis or HIV?
Do these virus even survive in drinking / tap water, which is the water type used in the US for toilets?
Thank you very much for your help. It is very appreciated.
Don't people drop things into the toilet all the time and without thinking retrieve it, as well as children playing in toilet water - are any of these ever infected with hepatitis or HIV?
Do these virus even survive in drinking / tap water, which is the water type used in the US for toilets?
Thank you very much for your help. It is very appreciated.
Brief Answer:
You can assume yourself as safe
Detailed Answer:
hi.
Your risk is negligible if not Zero because as I explained earlier firstly it is only an assumption that the person who used toilet immediately prior to you had an std and also had haemorrhoids or a bleeding anal lesion and secondly the infection would have been flushed already or diluted to very low infectivity before your hands came in contact with it.
Moreover, Hepatitis and Hiv have never been reported through hands coming in contact with contaminated toilet water.
Most common mode of transmission of hiv and hepatitis B & C is either sexual or parenteral route AND feco- oral route for Hepatitis A&E. Children can get Hepatitis A& E through feco-oral route but not Hepatitis B of Hiv.
These viruses do survive in water for variable amounts of time. Subsequent appropriate treatment or disinfection of contaminated water would kill the viruses for sure however recontamination of already treated water does not guarantee infectivity to be zero.
regards
You can assume yourself as safe
Detailed Answer:
hi.
Your risk is negligible if not Zero because as I explained earlier firstly it is only an assumption that the person who used toilet immediately prior to you had an std and also had haemorrhoids or a bleeding anal lesion and secondly the infection would have been flushed already or diluted to very low infectivity before your hands came in contact with it.
Moreover, Hepatitis and Hiv have never been reported through hands coming in contact with contaminated toilet water.
Most common mode of transmission of hiv and hepatitis B & C is either sexual or parenteral route AND feco- oral route for Hepatitis A&E. Children can get Hepatitis A& E through feco-oral route but not Hepatitis B of Hiv.
These viruses do survive in water for variable amounts of time. Subsequent appropriate treatment or disinfection of contaminated water would kill the viruses for sure however recontamination of already treated water does not guarantee infectivity to be zero.
regards
Note: Consult a Sexual Diseases Specialist online for further follow up- Click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
Get personalised answers from verified doctor in minutes across 80+ specialties
