Been worried sick for 8 weeks!

[Concerned18]

I've been on this forum for about a month and finally registered so I can get a little insight from you guys. It's a great thing what you guys are doing.

So a little background story. On January 16th 2013, I had a sexual encounter with a female escort. I have no knowledge of her sexual history or if she is HIV+ or not. I had protected vaginal sex with her and she performed unprotected oral sex on me. The main concern right now is that I also performed cunnilingus on her. I did so about for 5 minutes. I remember swallowing 3 times. My mouth never left contact with her vagina during this time. I have poor oral hygiene, my gums bleed every time I brush my teeth and I have cracked lips. Today is my 8th week and I am going to go get tested again. I know you people say that a 3 month test is conclusive but if I do come out negative is this a good sign I'll be negative at 3 months? I also know that pointing out symptoms is pointless but I've never had a throat issue like this before. 3 days after exposure I became ill and was diagnosed with strep throat. I had puss at the back of my throat and a walk in clinic doctor prescribed me an antibiotic. It went away but now everyday since after that I have had an inflamed throat. Doctors have tried giving me numerous medications but none of them seemed to work. I also had a full STD panel completed and HIV test done at 2 weeks after exposure. Everything came back negative. I completed a HIV1 / 2Ag/Ab Combo Screen. The results said non-reactive.

I've also read on these forums and saw that a couple of people did indeed get infected "orally". I did a search through the forums and found a topic called "How did you get infected". I think I saw 1 or 2 people that said they got it from oral and 1 even said that he didn't even swallow and still contracted it. Another said he got strep and his throat was inflamed, and his doctor said that's how he got it. I've read other posts on this section and you guys strictly repeat over and over that you can't get it through cunnilingus. I don't know if these other people were performing the act of fellatio or cunnilingus but it did say oral. This is also my second time ever having sex. The first time being in September, but was fully protected, oral and vaginal. My tests in January also rules this out.

So what is your insight? Thanks in advance.

[Jeff G]

Hi Concerned
HIV transmission doesn't stand a chance of happening via female genitals to mouth - there are just too many obstacles on the oral route.

The first obstacle is the mouth itself. The mouth is a veritable fortress, standing against all sorts of pathogens we come into contact with every minute of our lives. It's a very hostile environment and saliva has been shown to contain over a dozen different proteins and enzymes that damage HIV.

HIV is a very fragile virus - literally. Its outer surface doesn't take kindly to changes in its preferred environment; slight changes in temperature, moisture content and pH levels all damage the outer surface. Importantly, it needs this outer surface to be intact before it can latch onto a few, very specific cell types and infect. 

Which leads to the second obstacle. HIV can only latch onto certain types of cells, cells which are not found in abundance in the mouth.

The third obstacle to transmission this way is having HIV present in the first place. The female secretion where HIV has been shown to be present is the cervicovaginal fluid. This fluid is actually a thick mucus that covers and protects the cervix.

The fluid a woman produces when sexually excited comes from the Bartholin's glands, located on either side of the vaginal opening. I have yet to discover one shred of evidence (and believe me, I've looked) that shows this lubricating fluid to have any more HIV present than other bodily secretions such as saliva, sweat or tears. Saliva, sweat and tears are NOT infectious fluids.

So there you have it. Once the results of the serodiscordant studies started rolling in, what we know about HIV transmission on the cellular level was validated. The only people who were getting infected were those who had unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse. Period. One of the three studies went on for ten years and involved hundreds of couples. That's a lot of nookie.

The symptoms with your health that you are experiencing are in no way indicative of a HIV infection and the only way to know is for you to test again at 3 months post exposure .
You can fully expect a negative result because you never had a risk . 

[Concerned18]

Thanks Jeff G, for your quick and very informative response. I just want to ask 1 more thing to confirm.

Even with my oral hygiene being so low and my situation (bleeding gums, cracked lips, swallowing), I'll come out negative?

Sorry for second guessing and what not, it just really gave me a scare when I came down with a fever and strep throat a couple days after.

[jkinatl2]

Thanks Jeff G, for your quick and very informative response. I just want to ask 1 more thing to confirm.

Even with my oral hygiene being so low and my situation (bleeding gums, cracked lips, swallowing), I'll come out negative?

Sorry for second guessing and what not, it just really gave me a scare when I came down with a fever and strep throat a couple days after.

I really can't add anything to the thorough scientific information Jeff gave you, because that's basically all there is.

It's impossible to fully quantify a risk in your case because there has yet to be a firmly documented case of transmission in this manner. There's a reason the lesbian community has been almost completely spared the HIV pandemic, you know.

As for the people who claim to have gotten HIV orally, they were referring to receptive fellatio, not cunnilingus. It is that sort of inaccurate trawling of the forum, usually through fear-filtered eyes, that we discourage. Also, people who recently test positive are often no more informed about HIV transmission than anyone else, and many are afraid of being judged - by people in these forums, or by significant others who might also read their stories.

Which is why the plural of anecdote is not data.

You were not at risk for HIV in any way from the activities you described. Were there any caveats at all, we would have leapt all over one another to mention them.

I do think you ought to address your oral health however. Not because of HIV, but because that might be a source for your recent throat infections and fevers. As pathogens go, HIV is extremely fragile. Other pathogens, like strep, staph and worse, are far more robust.

[Concerned18]

Thanks again to you two. I really appreciate all your input, it really helped me a lot. I'll continue to take my last test on April 16th just to ease my mind. I still have my throat problem maybe it'll go away after I get my test. I'm assuming its an anxiety related. Since doctors say my throat looks fine and I've tried a couple of remedies with no results. (I've read somewhere that someone had the same issue and right when he or she got the test completed and it came back negative, his/her throat cleared up miraculously.)

Should I post my results on this thread after my last test? Just to help people that were in a similar situation as me? I know what worries me a lot was when people would ask on websites about their risk and they wouldn't follow up on results of their tests.

[RapidRod]

No is not necessary. We have thousands of them in the archives.