HIV and its survival outside the body

[Questions11]

Does anybody know if HIV would be able to remain infectious in a buffer solution? I recently took a test and may have spilled a little bit of the solution on me. I keep wondering if there was any infected blood in the solution would the virus be killed by the chemicals?

 

The chemicals in the buffer solution are: The test tube solution contained approximately 1 ml of a buffered solution containing polymers and antimicrobial agents. The solution contains the following chemicals: sodium phosphate dibasic, sodium phosphate monobasic, ProClin 950, Polyvinylpryrrolidone, Triton X-100, Sodium Chloride & Sodium Hydroxide".

 

Please let me know as I am not very familiar with science! Thanks!

[Lyudmilascience]

thats a good question, I often wondered how did HIV evolve on this earth? do viruses even evolve they are non living so they cant live if they dont have a host. HIV virus can not survive in extreme heat (60 C)or extreme cold (-70 C)and it dies after several weeks outside the body. http://www.aidsmap.com/Survival-outside-the-body/page/1321278/ I think they wont be able to live in any of these chemicals, the article did say viruses cant live in sea water which is sodium chloride and they cant live in sodium hydroxide. but i am not sure about the rest.

[Sirona]

Does anybody know if HIV would be able to remain infectious in a buffer solution? I recently took a test and may have spilled a little bit of the solution on me. I keep wondering if there was any infected blood in the solution would the virus be killed by the chemicals?

It's not easy to contact HIV, the virus would need to enter your blood stream through a mucous membrane. When you say the solution 'spilled' on you, can you be more specific? Although it is possible to contact HIV from 'occupational exposure' you would need to have had broken skin (wound, cut, scab, etc) or through direct injection into your blood stream from an infected needle.

thats a good question, I often wondered how did HIV evolve on this earth? do viruses even evolve they are non living so they cant live if they dont have a host. HIV virus can not survive in extreme heat (60 C)or extreme cold (-70 C)and it dies after several weeks outside the body. http://www.aidsmap.com/Survival-outside-the-body/page/1321278/ I think they wont be able to live in any of these chemicals, the article did say viruses cant live in sea water which is sodium chloride and they cant live in sodium hydroxide. but i am not sure about the rest.

Actually, the HIV virus survives a lot better in the cold and at –70°C it will survive indefinitely. It is kept at –70°C for lab tests because it does not lose viral activity.

[CharonY]

It also depends on the buffer. Using standard lysis buffer retains the viral load at -70C , for example, but completely inactivate the virus in a very short amount of time. Considering that is a safety issue and that handling differs from lab to lab, it cannot be stated with certainty how much activity the sample may have retained. While infections are unlikely from mere spills, it should be recorded as a safety measure. I.e. communicate with the responsible biosafety person.

[John Cuthber]

Triton X inactivates the 'flu virus

http://jcm.asm.org/content/48/3/928.full

I suspect it would also "kill" HIV.

[Questions11]

Thanks for the responses! This was not a work exposure. I took the Oraquick HIV test (at a clinic and at home). I have anxiety so I took it twice. The test comes with a test stick and a buffer solution, with the ingredients mentioned above. A very small amount of liquid from the tube may have splashed on me but I'm not sure. I just want to know if there was any infected blood in the liquid, would it have been able to survive and infect if it somehow got in contact with a small cut on my finger/eye/mouth/nose? The Orasure website discusses the liquid when used with blood and says that all materials handling blood should be considered possibly infectious and to be thrown in a biohazard container. However, I don't know if this is more for universal precautions and a "right away" thing, or if the buffer solution will contaminated blood could remain infectious for longer periods of time. Their customer service reps seem to know nothing. I want the scientific facts. People often say "it doesn't survive long outside the body" and that's very vague. Many sources say many different things, that it needs the body temperature, pH level of 7 (I believe) and the human host to survive. But are there other conditions that could keep it infectious, such as the chemicals in this buffer solution? This is causing me a lot of anxiety.

[John Cuthber]

Can I just check on something?

Was anybody's blood present apart from yours?

 

You say "I just want to know if there was any infected blood in the liquid, would it have been able to survive and ..."

Why on earth would there be?

 

Anyway, this is clearly heading into the territory of " this is a web page and can't give medical advice- if you have any concerns please consult a physician"

[Questions11]

John,

I appreciate your response. I am asking because this is a community that knows about chemistry and microbiology a lot more than I do. I stated that I have anxiety so please do not be rude to me. The buffer solution was touched by other people at the clinic besides me and I am asking IF there somehow were to have been infected blood in it and a small part spilled on me, could it remain infectious and if so for how long? I did not check to see if anybody else's blood could have gotten there.

 

In short, would the chemicals in the solution inactivate the virus and render it unable to infect?

It also depends on the buffer. Using standard lysis buffer retains the viral load at -70C , for example, but completely inactivate the virus in a very short amount of time. Considering that is a safety issue and that handling differs from lab to lab, it cannot be stated with certainty how much activity the sample may have retained. While infections are unlikely from mere spills, it should be recorded as a safety measure. I.e. communicate with the responsible biosafety person.

I listed the ingredients in the buffer solution on my first post. Yes, the website says to discard all materials containing blood as infectious materials, which concerned me. I am not certain if there was any blood on the solution but I know a small amount may have gotten on me and I am concerned that if there was blood, would the ingredients in the solution kill the virus or no?

[CharonY]

See, your description leaves a lot open to guesswork, and assuming this is a biosafety issue I really dislike speculating. Let's put it that way, if the solution to isolate HIV from cell culture with high titre, or from blood (moderate to low) there is a risk depending on the final concentration and the time between isolation and exposure. John is right that detergents generally deactivate the virus, however it is not instantaneous (unless at very high concentrations, in which it is almost immediately).

 

If the buffer is just being used by others but are not actually a suspension of viral particles/cells the risk is very low (similar or lower than blood splatter contact, for example). My point is that if there is any kind of uncertainty from your side you should take to the responsible people. Even if risks are low, if you work there (even or especially just as an intern) you have a right to be informed of the risks you are exposed to. Asking on a forum will only give general guidelines but you should not use it to assess your own risk as no one here knows the precise work you are conducting nor how the lab is working.

[Questions11]

I appreciate the responses, thank you! I am talking in regards to taking an oraquick hiv test at a clinic. It is either a fingerprick test or an oral swab test and it comes with a test tube buffer solution that allows the sample collected to flow through the stick. If there are antibodies, they meet with the antigens that are applied at the top of the stick. The test tube solution contains approximately 1 ml of a buffered solution containing polymers and antimicrobial agents. The solution contains the following chemicals: sodium phosphate dibasic, sodium phosphate monobasic, ProClin 950, Polyvinylpryrrolidone, Triton X-100, Sodium Chloride & Sodium Hydroxide". These are the chemicals in the test tube solution. If someone else's blood with hiv was mixed with the solution and a small drop fell on your finger, would it be a risk? I often hear how once outside the body, the virus is not contagious, that transmission needs to be direct. I wonder if that is the case if the blood is in THESE particular chemicals. If they allow for the binding if antibodies and antigens, would they allow for the virus to remain active and infectious for long?

[CharonY]

Well, let us put it that way (and again, with all the caveats you should take from a random internet post): these assays generally are not under strongly denaturing conditions (i.e. Tween or Triton is only added in low amounts to minimize unspecific binding) but at the same time do not specifically preserve large structures such as viruses (especially as antibodies are quite hardy to begin with). The actual issue is therefore less the buffer composition, but the titre and mode of exposure. Considering that at most there is only minute contamination with blood and that in most cases the amount of viral particles is fairly low (which is why it is easier to target the antibodies than the virus itself) an external exposure has likely much less risk than exposure to a blood droplet.

 

But note that under no circumstances this is to be taken as medical advice.

Edited April 11, 2016 by CharonY

[Xalatan]

I'm not an expert on virology nor am I a clinical microbiologist, and have never worked with HIV in vitro, so this is just my personal opinion and you should best seek professional advice from Oraquick for a clear response - there is a 24/7 confidential line you can call for information.

 

Should there be contaminated blood present in the buffer, HIV has been known to survive in blood for upwards of weeks. However, bear in mind there has not been a case of HIV reported from being in contact with spilled blood or bodily fluids. http://mobile.aidsmap.com/Survival-outside-the-body/page/1321278/

 

Also, Triton X-100 is a detergent so it may hopefully solubilise the lipid envelope of any HIV viruses present. But as Charon said, it may also be a matter of titre and viral load in the potentially contaminated fluid.

 

Third, if there was HIV contaminated blood in the buffer solution, it cannot cross healthy skin barrier to infect.

[Questions11]

Thanks guys! The Oraquick hotline has no clue about any of this and it is impossible to speak with a doctor regarding this product. I have really bad anxiety which caused me to take this test. When I was finished, there was a little bit of solution left that I spilled out. I was under the assumption that HIV could not really be infectious outside the body. I do not work in a lab and some of the terminology goes over my head. Assuming it had been awhile that contaminated blood may have been in the solution, could it still be infectious? The solution came in a tube and i opened it, let the test run for 20 minutes, then dumped it out. I guess what I want to hear is that the virus would not be able to remain infectious inside those chemicals, for that amount of time, with the lid open etc etc. I just need to put this worry to rest and don't know who to go to with this.

 

I know that when working at a clinic and using the fingerprick test, the solution, lancets and everything that touches blood is thrown away in the biohazard container as "infectious material". I also understand that this is universal precautions. I am just so confused. For so long, I have been told to not worry about HIV in the environment because it does not survive well outside of the body. Is this true? Is there a difference with this particular buffer solution? The solution is intended to allow the sample to flow through the test stick and if there are any antibodies, the solution allows for the binding with the antigens at the top. I suppose this is what worries me, that is IS an HIV test and that somehow the solution could allow survival of the virus. I do not know how much of each ingredient was in the solution but I know in total it was 1 ML. Do I have anything to worry about?

 

Also, by the time the test was over, most of the solution was gone and very little had remained. It would have been small drops that would have touched my fingers. As far as the whole "was there any broken skin"? I do not know or remember but if there was, it wouldn't have been a deep cut. Perhaps some superficial skin peeling. I don't know. And I do not remember if I touched my eye/mouth/nose after this. BUT it would have been a very small amount of solution. Just please tell me I have nothing to worry about.

Edited April 11, 2016 by Questions11

[CharonY]

Why do you expect the solution to be contaminated in the first place. From what you describe it seems that you were taking the test, so why should you have come into contact with others in the first place? From what I understand it is a home test kit, who else would have been able to add their blood to it? Or do you mean that you contaminated yourself...?

[Questions11]

Why do you expect the solution to be contaminated in the first place. From what you describe it seems that you were taking the test, so why should you have come into contact with others in the first place? From what I understand it is a home test kit, who else would have been able to add their blood to it? Or do you mean that you contaminated yourself...?

I have taken the test a few times at the clinic and at home. At the clinic, I and the women working there both touched the test tube. The home test-I developed fears about the test having possibly been tampered with since it came with tape at the top (they all had tape) BUT also the tests are returnable, which didn't sit well with me and spiked my anxiety. If someone else's blood (at the clinic or the home test) were to have gotten on the test tube and then small drops got on my fingers, would there be a chance for the virus to have remained infectious? Or would the ingredients deactivate the virus? If this was another environmental exposure I wouldn't stress as much but this IS an HIV test after all, so this makes me worry more.