I’m new here and have a question concerning the risk of HepB transmission.
A while ago my GP found out that the vaccination I received as a child either was never or is no longer protecting me as my antibody titer was super low (I am in my late 20s). Since then I did not have the chance to get the HBV vaccination as there were some other vaccines I had to do and had a bad reaction to.
Yesterday I had to use a public bathroom and accidentally touched against a blood smear someone had left on the side of the toilet paper dispenser with my sweater and part of the skin of my arm (the blood could have been dried already but I’m not sure because of bad lighting). I could not properly wash my arm and hands in the bathroom and only had a chance to do so when I came home about 30 minutes later and I also put the sweater in the washing machine (I couldn’t see if it had blood on it due to the dark color).
The skin on my arm most likely was intact, there were no open wounds or scratches, it was just very dry and maybe a bit cracked (due to the dryness).
I also had to touch the sweater where it had been in contact with the blood and then touch things like my keys, phone, doorhandles etc before being able to wash my hands and arm properly at home. Should I wipe those things with disinfectant to be safe or is that unnecessary?
I have pretty bad contamination OCD and wanted to ask people with expertise if it is just my mind tricking me into thinking this could have posed a risk of contracting HepB or if there was an actual risk involved in a situation like that, as there is quite a lot of medical information on the internet that is confusing and most likely not very accurate in real life situations?
Thank you so much in advance for any answer and all the best wishes!
HBV remains infectious in dried blood samples for fairly long–a week to 10 days, so it is possible that the blood contained infectious HBV.
Transmission requires direct contact of HBV with blood, which can occur through macroscopic cuts, abrasions, or sores, or through much small breaches in skin or mucous membranes (like around the eye, in the mouth, or in the vagina).
From your description, I doubt you were infected as you just had a minor contact between the blood to some dry skin, not to overt breaks in the skin. Also, there is no guarantee that the blood had HBV in it, or if it did, it may have had very low amounts that would have made transmission difficult. In short, transmission chances seem low.
If you remain concerned, please visit your physician for blood tests, and get yourself vaccinated again (that’s always a good idea for people with low anti-HBs titers). Cleaning your phone, etc., like you suggest is also a good idea, but not because I’m worried about transmitting HBV through contact with it. There are tons of other viruses and bacteria out there that can make you sick, and cleaning them off commonly touched items on a routine basis is just good hygienic practice.
Hello. How probably is transmission to a baby that had an open wound on her head from scraped cradle cap? I am worried that the nanny had a cut on her finger or arm and that she transmitted something to the baby. Its cold out so dry cracked skin is also a possibility. I am not sure if the nanny has the virus but I am very worried because the baby is not vaccinated. What should I do if anything? I cannot ask the nanny for her health status.
It is difficult to give exact probabilities given all of the variables, but this would be generally considered a low risk of transmission in most instances. You have no evidence that the nanny has hepatitis B.
The most appropriate course of action is to get your baby vaccinated for your own peace of mind.
Hi, everyone. I’m new here, and I have a similar question.
I have a family member who has Hepatitis, not sure A B C or D though. Recently she bought me a brand new sweater and sent it to me through post. The parcel sat in my foyer for a week before I had time to open it. When I opened it, I noticed there was a brownish/dark reddish stain on the back of the collar. The size was a bit smaller than a pea. Because the sweater was brand new, I didn’t think much of it, and thought I would just chuck it into the washing machine and it would come off. So I did. The cycle was cold water wash with ordinary laundry detergent liquid, no disinfectant added. When the washing cycle was done, I took it out of the washing machine, the stain was hardly changed, still much the same colour and still much the same size; so I took the sweater to the vanity and used a bit of my soap-free hand wash, rubbed the stain between my fingers (bare hands) and rinsed it under the warm water. After that, the stain was almost gone, now all you can see is a tiny yellowish reddish dot. As I was rubbing it over my vanity trying to get that stain off, a scary thought popped into my mind “Is it blood”? Then I checked my hands to look for any broken skin, and I found a tiny little cut on my cuticle. I went to ask my husband, he grabbed the sweater and rubbed the tiny stain and answered “Don’t know what it is.” I told him to wash his hands after touching the stain, he just ignored me. Then he went on to touch the door knobs, light switches, water jug etc.
Here are my questions:
Do I have to remove the stain to inactive the virus? Or as long as it has been washed with ordinary laundry detergent, the virus would have been inactive? Stain or no stain is irrelevant? I’m under the impression that to inactive the virus, the stain must be completely removed by using detergent.
I know ordinary soap and water would inactivate the virus. How about soap- free hand soap, which contains Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulphate.
Is there any risk of catching Hepatitis? I tried to wash off the stain with my bare hands which has a very small cut. This was after the sweater had been washed in the washing machine though.
Do I need to sanitise all the door knobs, light switches, water jug etc anywhere husband had touched after him touching the stain? This happened after the sweater had been washed in the washing machine AND washed again by me using soap-free hand soap. I’m a bit worried, because our baby licks just about anything he comes across, and sometimes he gets cracked lips from dryness.
Do I need to sanitise my vanity because I hand Washed the stain there?
Is a week long enough for the virus to die on its own? It had been sitting in my foyer for a week before I had time to open the parcel.
Finally, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the scientists on this forum. The information about Hepatitis online is just overwhelming and contradicting sometimes. Thank you very much for your great work, so questions like these can find reliable answers.
P.S. please don’t laugh at me, if my questions sound silly. I do feel silly asking them.
Hi @StarR ,
Welcome to the community. I agree with @Caraline that your family is less likely to get infected in this situation. We are not even sure it is blood. I doubt blood will come off that easily on a sweater. Either way, I will encourage you and your family to get vaccinated against HBV if you have not done so already. These vaccines are very effective and will give you peace of mind.
You can use warm water to wash the sweater and dry it in a dryer on a high temperature, depending on the material. We don’t want to damage the sweater.
Additionally, if it will make you feel more comfortable, you can make a mixture of water and bleach and use it to wipe the surfaces your husband touched. The vanity should be fine since the item was packaged or wrapped. I hope this helps. Bansah1
Hi @StarR,
As I mentioned in my message, I doubt the spot is blood if the sweater is brand new. But if it is washed and dried with heat, then there should be no issues. Even if the spot remains, you should be fine if you think it is blood. Bansah1
I feel you are safe. A blood stain would have been at least strongly reduced by the cleaning you did; as it did not change, it is likely a drop of dye that got on the sweater during its production. In addition, your treatment with both the regular washing detergent and the non-soap detergent would both have disrupted the viral envelopes of HBV, HCV, and HDV and render them non-infectious (but not HAV as it has no envelope), and the likelihood of transmission of any of those viruses (if they were even there) would be quite low from what you described.
I do not feel you need to do an extensive sanititization of your house based on these data.
I strongly encourage you and your family to ensure you are vaccinated against HBV, and also against HAV. Both vaccines are very safe and highly effective. As we say in the USA “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.
Hi, Dr Tavis @john.tavis
I really appreciate your reply. Our baby is vaccinated (3 doses). I’m pretty sure me and husband are also vaccinated, but need to double check just to be sure. Does these vaccine last a lifetime?
I thought it was blood stain, because the way it faded when I rubbed it under the tap. I don’t think it’s dye, but could just be some sauce. Just out of curiosity, if it was blood stain, do I have to remove the stain to get rid of the virus? Or soap water kills them, stained or not? Also, how long does these virus survive in room temperature? Does Dettol laundry sanitiser kill these viruses? These days almost every cleaning product says “Kill 99.9% germs”, I don’t know how reliable that is.
Another random question, say some dry blood stains have been on a surface for a while, and they are completely dries. If they come into contact with some water, does the water reactivate the virus? I read about some researchers were able to reconstitute the blood by scraping the dried blood up.
Anxiety and concerns aside, I find virology really fascinating. Thank you for your great work and sharing these valuable knowledge with us.
Regarding whether the stain has to be removed for it to be non-infectious, I do not think so. Blood stains are mostly caused by the iron complexes (a chemical) - they can remain even if the stain is disinfected (e.g. with the detergents that you have used).
@ThomasTu
Thank you so…. much for you reply. I’ve been so anxious about it, but don’t want to ask my aunt (who bought me the sweater). I don’t want to make her feel uncomfortable.
How likely is it that the first round of machine wash with cold water and just normal detergent would have inactivated the virus, even though the stain was still there after the wash?
Would the one week time it sat in the plastic parcel have reduced the efficacy of the virus?
Viral inactivation renders viruses unable to infect. Many viruses contain lipid or proteincoats that can be inactivated by chemical alteration. Viral inactivation is different from viral removal because, in the former process, the surface chemistry of the virus is altered and in many cases the (now non-infective) viral particles remain in the final product. Rather than simply rendering the virus inactive, some viral inactivation processes actually denature the virus completely. Viral inactivation is used widely in the blood plasma industry and manufacture of monoclonal antibody based biopharmaceuticals.
In order to achieve inactivation of the viruses in the sample, it is necessary to perform “special” purification processes that will chemically alter the virus in some way. Some of the more widely used processes are as follows:
In some cases viral inactivation is not a viable removal alternative because even the denatured or otherwise inactivated viral particles can have deleterious effects on the process stream or the product itself.
The last paragraph really freaks me out, but with the little knowledge that I have about this topic, I’m guessing hepatitis is not one of those virus that can still be infectious even after been inactivated? Hopefully.
Note that different types of viruses have widely differing sensitivities to sanitizing agents (for example, norovirus a virus that causes acute gastritis is stable in moderate detergents and in low pH). Although HBV is rather stable when dried (over a week at room temp if I remember correctly) and can be dissolved in an infectious state upon addition of water, it is very sensitive to soap and other detergents because they dissolve the viral membrane which is essential for the virus to infect a cell. Your washing would have killed the virus if it had been there.
Thank you very much for your reply. I’ve learnt more about enveloped virus in this forum than I have my whole life. Thanks to the great work you scientists have done here.
Is it fair to say after the first round of machine wash (even though the stain remained), it was pretty safe to hand wash it again with a 1mm cut on finger? Since the virus is very sensitive to soap, that first round of wash would have inactivated all the virus?