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Giving safe care to people with HIV of AIDS in the community is largely common sense. Everyday good hygiene will usually be enough.
HIV, the virus that precedes AIDS, can be passed in these ways.
- HIV can be found in blood, semen and vaginal fluids of infected people.
- Anyone infected with HIV can transmit the virus to another person through vaginal and anal intercourse.
- Sharing needs or syringes for injecting drugs like cocaine, heroin or steroids can pass infected blood from one person to another.
- There is a 15-25 per cent chance that an infected mother can pass HIV to her baby during pregnancy, at birth or during breast feeding.
- Receiving infected blood or blood products before screening of blood began in November 1985.
- Blood-to-blood contact with infected blood through open wounds or sores.
Caring for the care-giver
- Stay away from the person you care for if you are sick. Germs from a cold or
flu can harm someone with HIV or AIDS, so wear a mask if you have a cold or flu.
- Rest, exercise and healthy eating are important for your health.
- If you live with the person you care for, try to take time for yourself. A short break will help reduce stress and burn-out.
In the kitchen
- Clean kitchen counters with a clean cloth, household cleaners and rinse with fresh water. Wash dishes, pots, glasses and cutlery in warm, soapy water. Wash cutting boards with soap and hot water. Mop the floor at least once a week. Throw the dirty water down the toilet. Wash up after handling garbage normally.
- Wash your hands before preparing food.
- Wash fruits and vegetables before you cook or eat them.
- Cook or peel organic fruits or vegetables because they may have germs on the skins.
- Use a separate spoon, only once, to taste the food. Use a different spoon for stirring.
- Don't offer a person with HIV or AIDS unpasteurized milk or organic lettuce.
- Don't give a person with HIV or AIDS uncooked meat, fish or raw eggs.
- Serve hot foods while they are still hot, and cold foods while they are still cold.
In the bathroom and laundry
Cleaning kills germs that may be dangerous to the person you care for you and you.
Bathroom:
- Clean tubs, showers and sinks with a clean cloth, household cleaners and rinse with fresh water.
- Wet mop the floor at least once a week. Throw the dirty water down the toilet.
- Wear rubber work gloves when you clean the toilet. Use bleach right from the bottle.
- Everyone should use their own towels, washcloths, razors and toothbrushes.
Laundry:
- If you live with the person you care for, you can wash your clothes together. Use warm water and laundry soap.
- Vomit, diarrhea, blood and other body fluids stained with blood should be cleaned up right away. Clean floors and counters with one part bleach mixed in nine
parts water and wear rubber work gloves.
- Blood, semen or vaginal fluids on clothes, towels or bedding can be soaked in cold water with a little bleach to remove stains. Ordinary soap and water will kill HIV.
- Wet garbage such as diapers, bandages and menstrual pads should be put in
two plastic bags to prevent leaks.
Personal care:
- Hugging, shaking hands or giving a massage is always safe.
- A healthy skin is a good barrier against infection. At the same time, skin can carry germs that can hurt the person you care for you and you. Wash your hands after you:
- sneeze or cough
- go to the toilet
- touch your nose, mouth or genitals
- handle garbage
- clean the house
- handle blood, semen, urine, vaginal fluid or feces
How to wash your hands:
- wash your hands with warm, soapy water for at least 15 seconds. Clean under your fingernails and between your fingers.
- give personal care
- wear gloves
- change diapers, menstrual pads or bandages
You don't need to wear gloves all the time when you give personal care. You should wear disposable latex gloves when you:
- touch blood, open cuts, semen, vaginal fluid, urie
- have cuts, sores or open rashes on your hands.
You should wear rubber work gloves when you clean up:
- toilets and the bathroom, vomit, diarrhea, after pets.
Wash rubber work gloves well after use, and then wash your hands.
Take care with needles
- Hold the sharp end away from yourself
- Put used needles in a sturdy, plastic jar with a lid.
- Give the jar to your health care professional for safe disposal.
- Never put the cap back on the needle
- Never bend or cut needles
- Never remove the sharp needle from the plastic part
- Never put the used needle jar in the garbage
- Put the needle in the used needle jar
- Wash where you stuck yourself using warm, soapy water for at least 15 seconds. Call your doctor or clinic nurse and tell them what happened.
Pets and gardening
When you care for someone with HIV or AIDS, you may also care for the family pet.
People with HIV or AIDS should not clean bird cages, litter boxes or fish and animal tanks. Other people should wear rubber work gloves while cleaning tanks, cages and litter boxes, and wash their hands afterward. Litter boxes should be cleaned every day.
People with HIV or AIDS should wear work gloves when gardening. Germs can live in gardens or potting soil. Wash hands after gardening.
(For more information or a copy of the brochure this material was reproduced from, contact the National AIDS Clearinghouse, Canadian Public Health Association, 400, 1565 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ont. K1Z 8R1 - telephone (613) 725-3769 fax (613) 724-9826.
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