Forum on Opportunistic Infections: Nail biting + HIV = bad cocktail?

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		Nail biting + HIV = bad cocktail? Oct 14, 2001 Hello, thanks for a great forum! I'm a HIV+ 28 years old male, I've never been ill (except from common flu) and I'm doing quite well on HAART (virus undetactable for 1.5 years and CD4's risen from 130 to 325). I've been biting my nails ever since I was a kid, but now I'm thinking of making an effort to stop, both for cosmetic reasons but more importantly because I am wondering whether nail biting poses a health risk (because of the germs that gets into the mouth)?


Advertisement Response from Dr. Feinberg You don't need to worry about getting any serious infections from nail-biting. Occasionally nail-biters may get some redness and soreness near the nail if the skin there gets infected. Go with the motivation that it doesn't look very pretty, if you're determined to quit.

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