Thoughts / opinions on this encounter with HIV +

[anonymous666]

3 years ago I had sexual contact with another man who I later found out to be HIV positive.  I had anal sex w/ him and was always the bottom.  There was always protection being used and never any visible blood or anything.  We must have had sex roughly 8-10 encounters.  I did preform oral sex on him.

I've finally gotten the courage after all this time to get tested, as I've been scared to death to.  My appointment is on Tuesday.

But I'd like to hear the experts opinions on this.

1)  I heard that saliva in your mouth usually kills any HIV bacteria, and little if any known cases of getting HIV through oral sex have been documented.

2)  If I've used protection everytime, and the condom never broke, its close to impossible to contract the disease.

3) Not only giving oral sex, but getting HIV cum in your mouth usually is not a problem as saliva will kill i
t, right ?


I think I'm going to be okay, but I'd still like to hear your opinions.

[Ann]

anonymous,

I think you're going to be just fine too.

1. Yes, saliva inhibits the hiv virus. It's not a bacteria. There are many different components of saliva that damage hiv and render it unable to infect. The mouth is a very inhospitable place for hiv.

2. Condoms are excellent protection against hiv. There are many couples where one is negative and one is positive and the negative partner stays that way through condom use.

3. Studies have shown that oral sex is a lot lower risk than previously thought. This is discussed in the Lessons. You can find the link to the appropriate Lesson by reading through the Welcome Thread.

You're doing the right thing in testing. Anyone who is sexually active should be having a full sexual health care check-up, including but not limited to hiv testing, at least once a year and more often if unprotected intercourse occurs.

If you aren't already having regular, routine check-ups, now is the time to start. As long as you make sure condoms are being used for intercourse, you can fully expect your routine hiv tests to return with negative results. Don't forget to always get checked for all the other sexually transmitted infections as well, because they are MUCH easier to transmit than hiv.

Keep using those condoms for intercourse and you will avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple.

Let us know how your test turns out. I'm fully expecting a negative result.

Ann

[Andy Velez]

Just want to let you know that I agree completely with Ann's assessment of your situation. When you are worrying I think it helps to have as much encouragement as possible.

I certainly expect you're going to test negative.

Keep using those condom for anal intercourse and you should be fine as far as HIV is concerned.

Cheers,