The chances of becoming infected with HIV by handling a body fluid are extremely small, because that fluid will rarely have access to a person's bloodstream. However, anyone handling blood, semen or vaginal fluids should be careful to avoid touching them with broken skin or getting them into mucous membranes

Exposure to air

Air does not "kill" HIV, but exposure to air dries the fluid that contained the virus, and that will destroy or break up much of the virus very quickly. HIV can survive for several days in the small amount of blood that remains in a needle after use, so used needles are very risky for HIV transmission.

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