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Ask the Experts about AIDS-Related Cancers

 

Can breast cancer be transmitted through a bra?
Feb 23, 2003

I recently purchased a bra and had tried it on in the store, but what I did not realize until I got home is that there was a yellow, crusty spot on the inside of the bra, in the area of where the nipple would normally be. This spot must have been there before I tried it on. My first thought was that it was someone's nipple discharge. I have a scrape (i.e. a crack) on one of my nipples, the one that had contact with this yellow spot when I tried on the bra. Could breast cancer cells or HIV be transmitted to me, through my cracked nipple, if the discharge was from an infected person? Thank you.

Response from Dr. Dezube

Neither breast cancer nor HIV can be transmitted via a bra.



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