POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: ftbwgil on February 15, 2007, 04:49:03 pm
-
Hello, I am a wondering with all the info that is published what is real. All sorts of web sites claim that HIV can be transmitted from the person who performs fellatio. Yet when I read this site it appears that only for anal and vaginal sex should condoms be necessary. Taking aside other std's than HIV is it fair to say that as long as I wear condoms for both anal and vaginal that I will not get infected with HIV performing oral or having it performed on me.
Thank you
-
Getting a blow job is NOT a risk. Giving a blow job is considered very VERY low risk. The saliva in the mouth has natural enzymes that inhibit and break down the virus.
It is fair to say that as long as you wear condoms for anal and vaginal sex you will be just fine.
-
ft,
There have been long-term studies of couples where one is positive and one is negative. In the couples who used condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, but no barrier for oral activities, not one of the negative partners became infected with hiv. Not one. This shows us two things. One, condoms are very effective for the prevention of hiv transmission. Two, oral sex is much lower risk than previously believed. We now have the evidence that oral sex is a very low risk activity where hiv transmission is concerned. This refers to GIVING a blowjob. Neither GETTING a blowjob nor going down on a woman are risks for hiv infection.
You need to be using condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, every time, no exceptions until such time as you are in a securely monogamous relationship where you have both tested for ALL STIs together. To agree to have unprotected intercourse is to consent to the possibility of being infected with a sexually transmitted infection. Sex with a condom lasts only a matter of minutes, but hiv is forever.
Have a look through the condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use condoms with confidence.
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.
Ann
-
Thank you for your response. You do say that giving a blow job is very low risk and that neither gettting a blow job or cunninglus is a risk. Therefore If I understand correctly giving a blow job is not zero risk where as getting oral is zero risk. Are you personaly aware of anyone who is certain that they have gotten HIV from giving oral.
Once you have answered if you can I will then consider the matter closed
Thank you and thanks for dedicating your time to this cause.
ftbw
-
You will find people that will say that they got infected by receiving a blowjob but there are no substantiated, provable cases. Saliva does not transmit HIV.
-
I am re assured that transmission will not occur for the one receiving the BJ however there is conflicting reports that state that the one who is giving is more at risk I guess because the mouth can have cuts or sores for the infected precum or sperm to enter. My biggest concern is not transmission from receiving but one from giving.Does anyone know of any cases that HIV transmission occured by being the one who performed fellatio. I have been told that some estimates are 1 chance in 10,000 to be i9nfected by giving the BJ.
Is that right
-
We don't give odds on statistics. There is a minute chance of a risk. There have been several studies where one person was negative and one positive and there has never been a transmission. It's all in what you are comfortable with in doing.
-
Hi Rapid Rod;
Thanks for responding. I guess minute is like you said a personal acceptance level of risk that is there vs receiving which is zero risk. FYI I did get tested for std due to performing cunninglus and the doctor said that an HIV test would not be neccesary for gving cunninglus. Do you think she would have recommended HIV test for having given a BJ again not as a receiver but as a giver.
Why is it it more common with fellatio than with cunninglus?
-
Do you think she would have recommended HIV test for having given a BJ again not as a receiver but as a giver.
ft,
We can't read your doctor's mind - you'd have to ask her.
Going down on a woman isn't a risk for hiv infection. Becoming infected through giving a blowjob is not common by any means. It's rare.
One of the differences lies in how the two acts are preformed. In giving a blowjob, potentially hiv infected semen ends up directly in the mouth. If a person has very poor oral hygiene, this could theoretically allow an entry point for the virus into the bloodstream.
When a person goes down on a woman, it is only the tip of the tongue and perhaps the lips involved. The giver doesn't come into contact with the cervix, which is where the infected fluids are found on a woman's genitalia. The cervix is deep inside the vagina.
Saliva contains over a dozen different proteins and enzymes that damage hiv and render it unable to infect. Saliva is designed, by nature, to protect us from the many different pathogens that enter our mouths ever single day of our lives.
If you like to give blowjobs, keep your mouth in good condition through normal oral care (brushing) and dental appointments and you won't have to worry.
Ann