Broken Condom

[travis87]

Hi everyone

I was wondering if you could please help with my question below.

About a week ago I had an encounter with a woman. I performed oral sex on her and during the course of this I inserted a finger into her for a few seconds, pulled out and put it in my mouth with vaginal fluid still on it which I swallowed. She performed a covered BJ on me. We also had vaginal intercourse. (I don't know her status but I had a test in early Feb that came back negative.)

A few days later I have developed the following symptoms: a pain at the base of my neck and back leading to a stiff neck; a dull headache in my forehead and at the back of my head that won't leave; a stiff jaw; and very brief sharp pains in my shins and elbows that come and go. I haven't had any swelling in my lymph nodes though. I'm planning on seeing a doctor if these problems persist (i'm not sure if these are specific to HIV or generic).

I've seen on this site as well as others that the probability of getting HIV from oral sex and fingering is practically nil, however, i'm worried that swallowing the fluid might have a different effect. Is there any chance I might have contracted HIV this way or am I being paranoid as I'm starting to get worried.

Thank you
Travis

P.S. is there a donation button anywhere?

[Jeff G]

Hi Travis . I read your concerns carefully and the oral sex you had wasn't a risk for HIV . You didn't specifically say but I'm assuming the vaginal intercourse was protected sex with a condom ? . If that is correct then you didn't have a risk and there is no need for testing .

HIV is a fragile, difficult to transmit virus that is primarily transmitted INSIDE the human body, as in unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse where the virus never leaves the confines of the two bodies.

Once outside the body, small changes in temperature, and pH and moisture levels all quickly damage the virus and render it unable to infect. For this reason, bodily fluids outside the body do not pose a risk and that means masturbation is not a risk for HIV infection.


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.


 

[travis87]

Hi Jeff

Thank you for your response. I did use a condom.

That's a relief. Hopefully it'll put my mind at rest. I think I'll still get tested in a few months.

Thanks
Travis

[Jeff G]

Hi Jeff

Thank you for your response. I did use a condom.

That's a relief. Hopefully it'll put my mind at rest. I think I'll still get tested in a few months.

Thanks
Travis

Great Travis ... if you do decide to test ( although you don't need it ) you can do so 6 weeks post exposure and then again at 3 months for a conclusive result . You should expect a negative test .

 ALTHOUGH YOU DO NOT NEED FURTHER HIV TESTING AT THIS TIME, anyone who is sexually active should be having a full sexual health care checkup, 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 checkups, 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. Some of the other STIs can be present with no obvious symptoms, so the only way to know for sure is to test.

Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, and you will avoid HIV infection. It really is that simple!

[travis87]

Thank you for following up. I think I will get the test.

[travis87]

Hi all,

I would first like to thank you for all the work you guys do here. It's helped me a lot before.

I had protected vaginal sex with a female csw about an hour ago. After vaginal we moves to anal for about 1 to 2 mins and when I pulled out we saw that the condom had broken. She says her status was negative. I get restored about every six months.

Should I go on Pep?

In going to try to get to a clinic tomorrow or on Thursday (it's 9 55pm here).

Thanks,
Travis

[travis87]

Restore should say tested

[anniebc]

I would say that sex workers in general have a pretty high level of good sexual health, but in any situation where the condom fails or breaks we would encourage you to get an HIV and STI test.

It is better to be sure and the only way to be sure is to get yourself tested, and it will give you some peace of mind about your concerns.

Others will come in and give you more information on this so please be patient.

Jan

[travis87]

Thanks Jan. Anxiously awaiting other responses

[Joe K]

I've merged your new thread into your original thread - where you should post all your additional thoughts or questions.  It helps us, to help you, when you keep everything in one thread.  It doesn't matter how long it has been since you last posted in your thread or if the subject matter is different.

If you need help finding your thread when you come here, click on the "Show own posts" link under your name in the left-hand column of any forum page.

Thank you for your cooperation.

While you did have a risk, the risk is less for the insertive partner.  You should consult with your doctor as to whether PEP is right for you for this situation.

Joe