Household objects

There is no reason to think that HIV could be transmitted through sharing cutlery, plates or cups, because HIV cannot be transmitted in saliva.

Sharing personal items such as razors and toothbrushes generally does not present an effective means for HIV transmission. The short life of HIV outside the body reduces the likelihood of transmission. However, it is preferable to avoid sharing such items, as contact with the first user’s blood is possible as a result of nicks, cuts and bleeding gums in both users.

Seventeen studies in the United States and Europe examined the prevalence of HIV infection among non-sexual, non-needlesharing household contacts of persons with HIV infection. None of the 1167 contacts who were followed for more than 1700 person-years in these studies were infected (95% confidence interval for the rate of transmission=0-0.2 infections per 100 person-years).¹

There is one report of a transmission that might be attributed to sharing a razor , but there are reasons to doubt that this was the cause. The case concerns two adolescent brothers who had haemophilia.

The first had tested HIV-positive in 1985. His brother tested negative for HIV antibodies in 1989 and subsequently received only heat-treated high-purity Factor VIII, but had seroconverted by April 1991. Nucleotide sequencing showed a strong similarity between viral isolates of the two brothers, suggesting that the virus was transmitted from one to the other. If both brothers had been infected through Factor VIII infusions, researchers would expect to see significant differences in the virus strains carried by the two brothers.

The only means of transmission was said to be the sharing of a razor in 1988, over a year before the last negative test of brother 2. Both brothers were said to have bled slightly, although they could not recall who bled first.

Discussion following the presentation of this report at a conference in 1993 centred on the possibility that the brothers had shared injecting equipment in order to self-administer Factor VIII. There is also the possibility that there was an unrecognised or unreported contact with the brother's blood, with used needles, or that there was sexual contact between the brothers (they routinely shared a bed during the period when seroconversion might have occurred).²