HIV in Saliva

Many people live with the myth, that HIV and its harmful components are present in the saliva of a HIV positive person. Hence, kissing or sharing food with the patient can be contagious due to the presence of HIV in saliva. However, this is not true. Though the saliva might carry HIV viral RNA or proviral DNA, they are not harmful, when they reside in the human saliva.

Why HIV is harmless and inactive in saliva?

The saliva does not carry HIV that could be infectious or contagious. This is because; the saliva does not offer a very favorable condition for the sustenance of HIV. In fact, saliva is a good agent of destroying this virus. It carries special antibodies that fight the HIV components. The antiseptic and "hypotonic" property of saliva is conditioned to destroy any foreign cell that is present in the mouth. It works as a natural defense mechanism in our body.

There have been a number of studies conducted to test the presence of HIV in saliva. In a test conducted on 1000 patients, only one was found to be carrying HIV in his saliva and that too in a meager quantity i.e. 1000 times less that than of what he was carrying in his blood. Other tests tried to detect the possibility of contraction of the disease through kissing. No evidence could prove the hypothesis that the disease could be transferred through HIV in saliva.