Can you get infected at the doctors, dentists or by ear piercing, electrolysis, acupuncture or tattooing?
Not if professional infection control guidelines are followed. If you have any procedure, which pierces the skin, ask how equipment is sterilised between clients. All professional service providers are required to follow strict infection control guidelines. If you have any doubts, check that your practitioners use either disposable or sterile equipment for each client, and that they follow infection control procedures. Can you become infected by pricking yourself on a hypodermic needle by standing on it or otherwise piercing the skin? The risk of acquiring HIV from a discarded needle and syringe is very low. To date there is no documented cases of this happening. The reasons for this low risk of transmission are: • The used needle and syringe is usually very small, therefore holding no or very little potential infectious fluid. • It may be some time since the needle was used, therefore any viral matter present has died. • There may be no blood in the syringe. • If there is blood in the
