POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: ejkalt on August 03, 2006, 06:27:42 am
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I am really hoping for a respone. First and foremost, I have read all of the lessons and many other posts on this website and I cannot find a definitive answer. I had a sexual encounter with a girl a little over two years ago. About a year ago I was going to test but through advice about the probability of contracting hiv through oral sex I elected not too. However, recently I came accross a website about risk with my particular situation and I am very fearfull. Basically I am just hoping someone can tell me the odds of me contracting this disease through the following manner, thank you and here's what happend ... I am a man and I was in a situation with a girl where we performed mutual masterbation on each other (no risk) ... However, I elected to perform oral sex on her (no risk) However, thinking about what happend I am absolutely certain she had a vaginal infection of some kind. We had engaged in these activities in the morning, following a night of sleeping and she had some sort of vaginal discharge, I remeber it was a whitish/yellow discharge and her vagina smelled terrible. I kind of realized this after awhile of me being down there so I do not know exactly how long I was performing the oral sex. I came accross a different website that said if there was a vaginal infection there is a significant risk of transfering hiv if she had it; I just wanted to know what the chances of me aquiring hiv from this situation. Thank you for your time, I really appreciate it.
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ejkalt,
There is very little risk of you getting hiv in that way. However, there is a chance that you might have become infected with whatever infection it was - in your throat. The mouth is a very good barrier against hiv. Hiv is a fragile virus that does not remain viable and able to infect when subjected to the environment of the mouth, where there are over a dozen different enzymes and proteins present that disable hiv.
While you do not need to test for hiv over this incident, 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.
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.
Have a look through the condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use condoms with confidence.
Ann
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Thank you so much Ann, and God Bless.
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Dear ejkalt,
I agree with Ann and I just want to add that there are many ways to protect yourself from all STD's while performing oral sex on a female. There are latex barriers called "Dental Dams" which come in a variety of flavors. A "Dental Dam" is a latex square that you place on the female before performing. You can also use a condom buy cutting it into a square, or you can use saran wrap. Yes, it sounds kind of hokey but it can be fun and it does protect you. Take care and remember to "Play Safe".