Some scientists estimate HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, can survive a few hours outside the body. However, it probably cannot be spread efficiently by an object left lying around, such as a needle with dried blood on it, says Michael Kilby, M.D., medical director of UAB's 1917 AIDS Outpatient Clinic. "Like most viruses, HIV is dependent on a human cell to complete its life-cycle. It cannot survive and reproduce outside of the body. Also, it cannot be spread through casual contact, like air-borne or food-borne viruses can. It is spread through direct, intimate contact -- sex, direct blood-to-blood transmission, or from mother to newborn baby during labor and delivery."
Contact Joy Carter, Media Relations, at 205-934-1676 or [email protected].
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