Do I have a HIV risk?

[someone]

Hi! I am absolutely paranoid about this. I basically went to this strip club and had oral with a stripper. There was NO Anal or Vaginal sex at all or any kind of penetration. She gave me a blowjob and I had a condom on while she did that. Later, I performed unprotected cunnilingus on her for a few minutes. Now, that has got me paranoid. I tested for syphillis and Herpes and they both came out negative. I am worried about HIV risk. Do I have any HIV risk? Most sites do acknowledge that there is lesser risk of HIV in oral than in anal and vaginal and some even talk of a few documented cases of transmission. That is getting me paranoid. Am I in a risk situation for HIV? Do I need to get tested? There is a theoretical risk for sure but what about practical risk? Also, finally, when I was drunk, someone made me suck a dildo? Is that a risk for HIV Transmission as well?

Thank you very much for your time and sorry for the long post.

[Jeff G]

Hi Someone ... there is oral with theoretical risk , and then there is cunnilingus .
Cunnilingus isn't a risk and here is why .


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.

[someone]

Hi, Thanks for replying! On wikipedia page of cunnilingus, it says that there have been 2 cases of transmission via cunnilingus. So, this really freaked me out. So, in your opinion, you would not recommend testing? Secondly, sucking on a dildo is not a risk, right?
Thank you for your time.

[Ann]

someone,

You're fretting about two - unproven - cases of transmission via cunnilingus in over thirty years of hiv? Knock it off. Both those cases were later shown to be unreliable. It's a pity articles that cite them don't often mention that.

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.

You didn't have a risk.

Ann