Hyderabad: HIV infection following a human bite is biologically possible and transmission is possible if mixed with human blood according to the results of a test published in International Journal of Infectious Diseases. The sample was collected from a hospital in Hyderabad.
The researchers found that the human bite, with saliva and blood, makes transmission possible.
Oral tissues replicate and serve as a previously unrecognised reservoir of HIV.
The research had to be based on hypothesis despite the victim of the human bite having 91 per cent of the viral load.
The researchers stated that for it to be a full blown HIV infection, the immune system of the recipient and its combating skills had to be taken into account.
While the virus may be present in the body, it will become a completely full blown infection only when the immune system is compromised.
The particular sample which was tested and researched showed primary levels of infection.
The saliva was smeared with a raw nail bed of blood which was found to replicate and increase the infection.
The researchers said that it was not possible to epidemiologically evaluate and identify such people as it would not be possible to label them as HIV positive till the infection was complete.
However, the biological assessment has shown that human blood mixed with saliva, in the form of a human bite, can become a mode of transmission of the infection.
