STD Risk for Person Giving Head

[timsgfdmo]

So what is the risk? I have heard or read various things. Latest conclusion I have reached is that possibility of getting HIV is almost non-existent aslong as no open sores in your mouth or stomach. Dont brush teeth right before etc. Is that the concensus? Worst STD I heard you could catch would be HEP. Which would not be good but better than HIV. Seem like lots of guys giving head to many complete strangers. If risk of incurable STD were great would that practice be that common? Anyone care to educate me?

[JohnnyV]

Tim,

There is still a lot of debate and controversy about the risk of giving a blowjob. There are some documented cases of HIV being transmitted that way. While it is common to hear that sores or brushing your teeth increase the risk, researchers have produced little evidence to back up that contention. It makes sense on a theoretical level, but they just can't seem to identify case histories that show HIV infecting people who suck cock when they have those mouth sores or bleeding gums, sore throats, etc.

There is also debate about whether it's good to use mouthwash, because alcohol in mouthwash dries out the mouth. It is saliva, not alcohol, that has special ability to block the HIV from traveling into your bloodstream.

There is some evidence that if you avoid allowing the suckee to ejaculate in your mouth, you are safer. But the documented cases of people who caught HIV from giving head don't all point to ejaculation as the main factor; some people caught it without having ever taken cum in their mouths.

The link between HIV and oral sex is difficult to document because most gay or bi men who contract HIV have had both oral and anal sex, and it would be impossible for researchers to distinguish those who caught it anally and those who caught it orally. That's one reason to be cautious about the optimistic statistics that sometimes imply that giving head is safe sex.

If you do a google search on the following names, you will find a wealth of debate on the Internet, backed up by recent scholarship, all pertinent to your question:

Dr. H. Hunter Handsfield (www.medhelp.org)
Dr. Jeff Klausner (gay.com)
"Dr. Bob"
Kimberly Page-Schaefer
Susan Buchbinder (not sure of the spelling)
HOT or HIV Oral Transmission Study

If you can, please ignore the cheesy community health pages that hang out on the Internet with very outdated information. Many such pages will exaggerate the risk of HIV from oral sex.

If you are sucking, you are at risk for many STDs other than HIV. HIV is also a risk, but most current research implies that the risk is very small, estimated at about a 4 in 10,000 chance of infection if you suck the cock of someone who is definitely infected with HIV. If your partner is of unknown status, obviously, the risk is probably lower, but you have to always assume that everyone's infected in order to protect yourself.

Every person has to decide for himself, but I decided, after doing research into the issue, that the risks were too uncertain. So I will never perform oral sex on a man unless I know for certain that he is HIV negative. But many people do the calculations in their head, and decide the small risk is too low to forego the pleasure of a full sex life.

J

[pmg_ams01]

thanks Johnny - well written and very balanced reply.
Pete.

[innaminka]

So what is the risk?


Work on the principal that wherever there are human bodily fluids - semen, lubricant, blood, saliva, even urine, there is a chance of an STD.

Act accordingly by weighing up the risk.

And don't forget Hepatitis is not killed in the stomach.

[leizy]

There is a higher risk for other STDs, including herpes, chlamydia, etc. I understand the urge and desire - be safe. Try the mint-flavored condoms...

[jedinudist]

I too have read conflicting statements about the risk of disease transmission via oral sex (in all it's wonderful varients ;) ) . It's a bit much to risk your life for a few moments pleasure. Play safe, know before you blow, meet before you eat, etc. In other words, if you don't know the person well, don't have sex with the person - that's the only way I know to decrease the risk as much as possible. Back before I was married, I wouldn't have sex with anyone until I got to know him or her well enough to try and gauge their honesty levels with me. And even then, it was safe play only.

I do know someone who got a rather nasty case of genital warts from unprotected oral sex with another guy who did not know he had them living in his throat! Many people can have an STD without knowing it themselves, and thus unwittingly pass it on to you.

Please play safely-

Blessed Be~

[OralBradley]

"If you are sucking, you are at risk for many STDs other than HIV. HIV is also a risk, but most current research implies that the risk is very small, estimated at about a 4 in 10,000 chance of infection if you suck the cock of someone who is definitely infected with HIV. If your partner is of unknown status, obviously, the risk is probably lower, but you have to always assume that everyone's infected in order to protect yourself."

In addition, while the HIV would immediately die in the stomach, any small cut in you mouth (and one's gums often have them) is an opening an entryway. Even getting sucked has a small, but non-zero, risk because any bleeding in the mouth could find an entrance into any small nick on the penis. The level of HIV in saliva is virtually non-existant.