No... HIV is not a bacterial infection. It is a virus. The problem is the sharing of needles when using. Blood does not go dry in seconds so the HIV will still be present. is still infected material within that needle Human Immunodeficiency Virus is just that a virus smaller than any bacteria and it lives in that material inside the needle. This is what I think, I think hiv cannot survive in open air, but when you use a needle/syringe there is still some blood inside the needle (like when they do blood work on you in the hospital the needle is kinda like a pump, it also pumps drugs into you, so since its inside something its not technically in open air and thus the blood retains enough moisture to make hiv thrive long enough for it to be injected in someone elses vein. The Human Immunodeficiency Virus is fragile. Once the virus is outside the body in a dry form, it dies immediately. Even in a wet state, it does not live long when exposed to heat, detergents, or disinfectants. When stored in blood banks at 4掳C, it can live for about 3 weeks (or longer), or till the white cell disintegrates, but in a frozen state it can survive for years. the HIV virus if exposure to air, it dies within 15sec. Now your question is about HIV living in a needle and that is consider a closed-air container, it could live up to 2 weeks and perhaps even more. You should also consider HepC virus living in a syringe.