Breast Milk/Cunnilingus/Vaginal Fluids/Canker Sore/....and a quick Stick-In!

[Sucka]

First, let me thank you all for the great work you are doing on this forum. You are of great help to a lot of us not so knowledgeable about this pandemic.

Onto my situation….I am currently in East Africa working on humanitarian projects. I travel between Djibouti and Kenya and in this region, AIDS is prevalent and the population is still working through the issues of trying to wrangle this disease and bring it under control. Recently, I had two encounters that has me worried sick and depressed.

1st Encounter: While celebrating New Yrs in Djibouti, I had a little too much to drink and ended up bringing a sex worker to my hotel room. We had protected vaginal sex but unprotected oral. I got a little carried away and performed cunnilingus on her. Also, while I was sucking on her tits, I found out she was lactating and I immediately spat out her breast milk. My concern over this situation was that a few hours after she left, I noticed an onset of a canker sore below my lower teeth. I've been getting canker sores since I was a child and was wondering how much risk I exposed myself to, especially with eating her out and having her breast milk in my mouth. Two days after this incident, I went and did the whole gamut of STD/HIV testing and nothing was found, but I am guessing that was due to the fact that I tested so early. Three weeks after this incident, I started having diarrhea that has been ongoing to this day. This has been my only symptom. I've waited on ARS and any other symptoms but....nothing. Is diarrhea a common early HIV symptom? The information on the Internet is very conflicting.

2nd Encounter: I met a female through a friend of mine while I was in Kenya. She was in the process of getting divorced and we ended up spending the night together. We went through two condoms that night but the oral sex was unprotected. In the morning, I woke up and wanted some more of that loving. I didn't have anymore condoms and in a moment of absolute 'brilliance', my trust radar went off the charts and I decided there was no harm in a quick stick in, which was just that, a stick in that I used to lube my dick and then pulled out and jerked off on her back. Once I was done, I realized that my actions do have consequences and thought I would trick whatever bug she might have by peeing right away and washing off (don't ask). Over the next few weeks, I kept looking for symptoms of HIV/STD and found nothing. But my diarrhea is still ongoing.

I went to see a doc regarding my diarrhea and they sampled my stool. Haven't heard anything yet. Now I'm just in a state of depression and looking for any sound advice you all can provide to ease my mind because the more I scour the Internet, the more it seems to freak me out to the point where I've started to come to terms with the fact that I might be HIV+.

I plan on flying back home to the U.S. and testing at the three-month mark. I will provide feedback, either way. Thank you all again for what you do.

[RapidRod]

You never had an exposure by getting your dick sucked and or preforming  cunnilingus, you had protected vaginal sex. The only risk you had is when you dipped.

[Ann]

Sucka,

(Jeeze, you could have picked a better user name. I very nearly rejected your account because of it, but that's beside the point.)

Protected intercourse is just that - protected. There have been three 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.

Sucking breast milk is not a risk for an adult. Not even young babies who are totally reliant on breast milk as their sole source of nourishment are guaranteed to become infected from ingesting breast milk. In fact, in areas where the water source is a cause of diarrhea, it is now recommended that hiv positive mothers breast feed their babies because the risk of infant death due to diarrhea is far greater than their risk for becoming infected with hiv. Forget about the breast milk - it was not a risk for you, as an adult with a fully formed immune system.

Giving a woman is not a risk for hiv infection. The area in a woman's genitals where hiv is present is deep inside the vagina, in the thick mucus that covers and protects the cervix. You are not going to be able to reach this area with your tongue. Not only that, but not only is saliva not infectious, but it also contains over a dozen different proteins and enzymes that damage hiv and render it unable to infect. There has never been a single documented case of hiv transmission occurring during cunnilingus and you aren't going to make history by being the first.

The fact that saliva is NOT infectious is why you were also NOT at risk for hiv infection while getting an unprotected blowjob. Not one person has ever been infected through getting a blowjob and you are not going to be the first.

Before you ask the inevitable question "what if there was blood in her mouth?", unless you're in the habit of repeatedly punching a person in the mouth before they blow (or kiss) you, there could not possibly be enough blood present to cause the least amount of concern.

Your first incident was totally without risk for hiv infection.

Your second situation, however, did carry a small risk. Hiv is a fragile, difficult to transmit virus and more so from a woman to a man. You would be extremely unlikely to end up hiv positive following this very brief unprotected insertion. However, it is NOT completely without risk and you DO need to test over this specific incident. It is the ONLY risk you report.

The earliest you should test is at six weeks following the dipping incident. The vast majority of people who have actually been infected will seroconvert and test positive by six weeks, with the average time to seroconversion being only 22 days.

A negative test result at six weeks is highly unlikely to change, but must be confirmed at three months.

I do not expect you to test over this brief dipping incident, but you do need to test to make sure. Your hiv status is nothing to guess about.

Regarding your diarrhea, I hope you realise that the areas of the world where you are currently living do not have very good water purification and you have very likely picked up some bug or parasite from the local water source. You will need to see a doctor and have a stool sample checked out for bugs and parasites and take the necessary remedies. It's nothing to do with hiv.


You really need to learn from this and stop having unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse, no matter how brief. Here's what you need to know in order to avoid 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 sexually transmitted infections together.

To agree to have unprotected intercourse is to consent to the possibility of being infected with an STI. Sex without 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. 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!

Ann

[Sucka]

Thank you, Ann, for your in depth response. It's been eight weeks since my risky encounter. I ordered two Oraquick In-Home HIV Test online and received them today. I took the test right away and it came out negative. I plan on using the second one at the 13 week mark.

Thank you both for your help and I will share the results of my 13 weeks test.

[Ann]

Sucka,

You're welcome. I do not expect your negative result to change when you confirm at the three month point.

Remember to use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, and you will continue to avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple!

Ann