Doctor Retracts Claim That You Can Catch HIV From Toilet Paper

Forbes (09/17/24) Woollacott, Emma

U.K.-based general practitioner Dr. Sermed Mezher recently retracted his earlier claim that it is possible to catch HIV or hepatitis from bloodstained toilet paper left by intravenous drug users cleaning their needles. "People have said the risk of transmission from using one of these is one in three for hepatitis and one in 300 for HIV," he previously stated. "But that's for healthcare workers who get direct impact when the blood is still wet. The risk of transmission if something has dried up is significantly lower, but it's still possible." His false statement appears to have been derived from a three-year-old Reddit post that had been widely reshared.

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