|Is breathing the air from saliva safe?
May 5, 2003
Hi , I would like to know if somebody spiit his or her salvia on the ground and it dries, and I happends to pass by, may i contact hiv, aids or other dieases by breathing the saliva from an infected person? Also regarding SARS(if the person had it), how is it spread? (may i get it from somebody who had spit on the ground?) Lastly, is deep-mouth kissing a person safe even if he or she is a hiv or aids person? Thanks for taking the time for reading & anwering.
| Response from Mr. Kull
HIV is not airborne. That means that HIV cannot be transmitted through the air when an HIV infected person breathes, talks, or coughs near you.
HIV is also not known to be transmitted through contact with saliva. The saliva of infected people contains little to no virus, and the virus that is found in saliva is often inactive (not infectious). Studies have found that a protein in saliva inactivates HIV (up to 90% of virus was inactivated in one test tube study) and other factors that may contribute to the noninfectious quality of saliva. This is why transmission through kissing or receiving oral sex doesn't seem to occur.
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