Police union spokesman Alliance said the arrested protester had spit blood on the policeman’s face, saying he had AIDS. All professionals in the fight against HIV contacted by franceinfo assure it: saliva, even mixed with blood, does not transmit the virus.
His remarks caused an uproar. At the microphone of Franceinfo, Sunday January 19, the spokesman of the Alliance police union, Stanislas Gaudon, tried to explain by “the context of the inquiry” the beatings by a police officer to a protester on the ground, Saturday January 18 in Paris on the sidelines of the demonstration of “yellow vests”. The police unionist said that the protester “spat blood on my face twice” of the police officer, while saying to him: “I have AIDS, you’re going to die!”
By taking up the threat uttered by the beaten protester, and by using this argument to defend the police officer under investigation by the General Inspectorate of the National Police, the spokesperson for Alliance relayed several false beliefs about HIV. Beliefs often denounced, but yet still firmly rooted in mentalities.
Saliva cannot transmit HIV, say all the specialists in the fight against the epidemic, contacted by franceinfo. “There is too little virus in the saliva, even in infected and untreated people, explains Asier Saez-Cirion, director of research at the Institut Pasteur and president of the scientific committee of Sidaction. The probability of transmission is extremely low. No case of transmission has been established in this case, and according to research, it even seems that there is a factor in saliva that inhibits HIV. “
“It happens to us to receive in consultation of the police officers, gendarmes or firemen for what is called ‘accidents of exposure to fluids’ (blood, saliva, urine …). But 100% of the patients who are not exposed that with saliva leave without preventive treatment “, says Gilles Pialoux, head of the infectious and tropical diseases department of the Tenon hospital in Paris and vice-president of the French Society for the fight against AIDS.
However, thehe spokesperson for the Alliance police union, Stanislas Gaudon, talks about spitting blood. But even in this case, HIV is not transmitted, counter the experts asked by franceinfo. Blood is one of the modes of contamination with sexual secretions and breast milk, lists Aides in a press release written in reaction to the controversy provoked by the unionist’s remarks. But “HIV has very low resistance to the open air”, Adds the association, and “after five to ten seconds in the open air, a drop of blood no longer contains any virus”.
“Even in the case of injuries and bleeding, contact with HIV does not transmit the virus, says Gilles Pialoux. We know these kinds of situations with road accident victims. Even splashing blood does not transmit the virus. In thirty-five years of history of the disease, there has been a case in the United States with a centrifuge and a skin disease in a technician. The meter for accidental occupational contamination by HIV has been blocked for fifteen years “Says the doctor.
“Blood transmission of HIV only occurs in the following cases, lists the association Sida info service, contacted by franceinfo. In the case of blood exchanges, in very specific circumstances, for example when exchanging syringes with a contaminated and untreated person. For contamination by injury, you must have a sufficiently open wound that requires stitches and that meets a large amount of contaminated fresh blood. In the case of blood transmission, any scratches, small superficial wounds, etc. are not ‘gateways’ to HIV. “
Today in France, discovering your HIV status is not a death sentence and HIV obviously cannot be considered a weapon.in a press release
In the case of an accident of exposure to blood, such as the one allegedly suffered by this police officer according to the spokesperson for Alliance, recommendations were formulated by a group of experts in 2017 (PDF). Post-exposure treatment is only recommended in two cases, which do not correspond to what the police officer would have experienced. First, if the risk is considered to be “important” – for example in the case of a deep puncture with a needle penetrating a vein or an artery – and if the person causing the accidental exposure is unknown or if he is HIV positive and if his viral load is detectable.
Then, if the risk is judged “intermediate” : during a cut with a scalpel, a sting that is not intravascular or exposure “Mucocutaneous” with a contact time of more than fifteen minutes. In case of sputum, biting, scratching or even sting with an abandoned syringe, the risk is estimated “low” and treatment is not recommended.
Stakeholders in the fight against the epidemic make another reminder: HIV-positive people on antiretroviral treatment do not transmit the virus. “In our rich countries, where antiretroviral treatment is free, HIV-positive people who take their treatment and whose viral load has been undetectable for more than six months can no longer transmit the virus”, insists Sida info service. This means, continues Aides, that“eHe simply lives with the virus and has a life expectancy similar to an HIV negative person “. And Sida info service concludes: “Transmission is only possible today with people who do not know their HIV status.”
In this case, scientists and associations deplore the risk of stigmatization. “It is scandalous on the part of this union to use and relay in some media this argument to legitimize the violence. There are already enough fantasies like that about the modes of HIV transmission which are perfectly known”, denounces Gilles Pialoux. “This type of talk continues to stigmatize people living with the virus”, abounds Asier Saez-Cirion.
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