Hi doctor! I asked this question a few days ago, and I tried to search it the archives and wasn't successful. I gave my HIV+ friend a hug and his blue tooth ear piece that was in his ear, scratched the inner part of my ear (not inside my ear just the inside of the fold.) and made a small scratch and a little blood came out. I'm worried about contracting HIV in this manner. I asked if you think it could have been something else, like his ear scratching me, but that sounds far fetched. I'm pretty sure if was the ear piece. I wonder if he scratched his own ear with the ear piece and made it bleed,then scratched mine. Or is this all crazy talk?? I sent a money order on Friday to you foundation and good karmic points too!! Love you and thanks for all your selfless work on this site.

Hi,

"Or is this all crazy talk??" Well, perhaps not totally Looney Tunes like so many of the questions that cram their way into my inbox, but it's certainly at least mildly whacky. The chance you could have gotten an adequate amount of fresh blood transferred via a Blue Tooth earpiece scratch to cause HIV transmission is so remote that it is essentially nonexistent. If my reassurance is not sufficient for you to shake your fears, you could get a single HIV-antibody test at the three-month mark. The results will undoubtedly be negative, but if it helps put your mildly whacky fears permanently to rest it may be worth the time and effort psychologically.

Thank you for your donation to the Robert James Frascino AIDS Foundation (www.concertedeffort.org). In return I'm sending you my good-luck/good-health karma!

Be well. Stay well. (Yes, you are indeed well.)

Dr. Bob