Igor Gratzer/Getty Images/iStockphoto A 22-year-old woman most likely contracted HIV from sharing manicure equipment with a cousin, who was later found HIV-positive, according to a new study. 
 
 A 22-year-old Brazilian woman may have been infected with HIV after sharing manicure instruments with a cousin about a decade ago, according to a new study. 
 
 The woman discovered she was HIV-positive after getting tested to donate blood, according to FOX News. 
 
 She said she had not had unprotected sex or shared needles, behaviors that are often risk factors for HIV transmission, according to a report in the November edition of AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses. 
 
 She did, however, share manicure equipment with a cousin, who was later found to be HIV-positive. 
 
 The viruses of the two relatives most likely came from a common ancestor, suggesting the manicure instruments may have transmitted the disease, analyses of their viruses found. 
 
 The woman's infection dates back about 11 years, when the cousin shared the manicure instruments with someone else, according to Medical Daily. 
 
 Her contraction of the disease is "a very rare event that should serve not to make people fear HIV or contact with HIV-infected people," the Brazilian study authors said. 
 
 Sharing instruments with "possible blood-to-blood" contact, such as needles for drugs, tattoos or acupuncture, can lead to virus transmission, the study founders said. 
 
 It is not clear if the women had blood-to-clood contact through the manicure tools. 
 
 "HIV is not transmitted by casual contact, such as sharing eating utensils, or drinking from the same water glass," said Brian Foley, AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses basic sciences editor. 
 
 There are only a few ways to transmit the virus, they said. HIV can be transmitted when bodily fluids — such as blood, semen, and vaginal or rectal fluids — come into contact with someone else's mucous membrane, damaged tissue or the bloodstream. Babies can also get HIV at birth from their mothers. 
 
 In rare instances, people can get the disease from kissing — only if both parties have exposed mouth sores. 
 
 There is a "negligible" risk of infection from biting, spitting, throwing body fluids or sharing sex toys, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 
 
 In the United States, there are about 1.1 million HIV-positive people, most of whom are treated with antiretroviral therapy, which decreases the risk of transmission, studies have found. 
 
 Sterilizing tools, such as needles, before use decreases the risk of transmission. ||||| A 22-year-old Brazilian woman was infected with HIV after sharing manicure tools with her cousin, in a rare case of disease transmission, reported Counsel & Heal. 
 
 The case is described in a report published in the online journal AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses. The infection was discovered when the woman volunteered for blood donation and tested HIV positive. Blood work showed her condition was normal, but that she had a high viral load, indicating that she had a long-standing infection. 
 
 The woman denied all classical transmission routes, including intercourse and needle sharing, and her mother also tested negative. The women both reported sharing manicure equipment with a cousin 10 years ago. At the time, the cousin was unaware of her infection status but later tested positive for HIV. 
 
 After analyzing samples from the woman and her cousin, researchers found that the viral genetic material in both women was highly related, indicating the possibility that HIV was transmitted by the manicure instruments. 
 
 Manicure utensils are not part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s list of mechanisms by which HIV spreads. 
 
 "HIV is not transmitted by casual contact, such as sharing eating utensils, or drinking from the same water glass. This transmission of HIV by shared manicure equipment is a very rare event that should serve not to make people fear HIV or contact with HIV-infected people,” study authors said in a press release. 
 
 Study authors noted that the case should make people aware that sharing utensils with possible blood-to-blood contact— such as needles used for drugs, tattoos or acupuncture— can result in transmission of viruses such as hepatitis C and HIV, and that other common viruses can be spread by sharing improperly disinfected equipment. 
 
 Click for more from Counsel & Heal. ||||| The risk of getting HIV varies widely depending on the type of exposure or behavior (such as sharing needles or having sex without a condom). Some exposures to HIV carry a much higher risk of transmission than other exposures. For some exposures, while transmission is biologically possible, the risk is so low that it is not possible to put a precise number on it. But risks do add up over time. Even relatively small risks can add up over time and lead to a high lifetime risk of getting HIV. In other words, there may be a relatively small chance of acquiring HIV when engaging in a risk behavior with an infected partner only once; but, if repeated many times, the overall likelihood of becoming infected after repeated exposures is actually much higher. 
 
 The table below lists the risk of transmission per 10,000 exposures for various types of exposures.
– More than a decade ago, a young Brazilian girl did what many girls do: She got a manicure. Now 22, the unidentified woman recently found out she's HIV-positive when she went to donate blood—and a study of her situation points to the manicure instruments she used 11 years ago, the New York Daily News reports. The study published in the AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses journal says that the woman used her older cousin's manicure gear when she was a child, Medical Daily reports; the cousin was later found out to be HIV-positive. After the 22-year-old's recent blood donation turned up an HIV diagnosis, doctors realized they had to go further back in her history than they anticipated: Her bloodwork revealed a "high viral load," which means the infection had been there for a long time, Fox News reports. The likely baffled patient told doctors she hadn't had unprotected sex or shared needles with anyone, the most typical risk factors for HIV transmission, the CDC reports. Genetic testing on both the woman and her cousin showed they shared a "common viral ancestor" that dates back about 11 years and coincides with the cousin sharing her instruments. Although the study's authors warn that sharing "utensils with possible blood-blood contact" (a group that also includes tattoo or acupuncture needles) without proper disinfection can up the risk for contracting HIV and other diseases, it's not clear if this patient had blood-to-blood contact. The study's authors says it's a "very rare event that should serve not to make people fear HIV or contact with HIV-infected people." (Some fear a certain kind of manicure can cause cancer.)