HIV and oral sex: Is there a danger?

[nothings5d]

I've seen MANY confused people on here as to this topic so I decided to look it up myself. Here is a VERY good article from the CDC on the subject, pay attention to the little things in it, they are actually the most important...


You can find the article from the originators here...
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/qa/qa19.htm



Can I get HIV from oral sex?



Yes, it is possible for either partner to become infected with HIV through performing or receiving oral sex. There have been a few cases of HIV transmission from performing oral sex on a person infected with HIV. While no one knows exactly what the degree of risk is, evidence suggests that the risk is less than that of unprotected anal or vaginal sex.

If the person performing oral sex has HIV, blood from their mouth may enter the body of the person receiving oral sex through

* the lining of the urethra (the opening at the tip of the penis);
* the lining of the vagina or cervix;
* the lining of the anus; or
* directly into the body through small cuts or open sores.

If the person receiving oral sex has HIV, their blood, semen (cum), pre-seminal fluid (pre-cum), or vaginal fluid may contain the virus. Cells lining the mouth of the person performing oral sex may allow HIV to enter their body.

The risk of HIV transmission increases

* if the person performing oral sex has cuts or sores around or in their mouth or throat;
* if the person receiving oral sex ejaculates in the mouth of the person performing oral sex; or
* if the person receiving oral sex has another sexually transmitted disease (STD).

Not having (abstaining from) sex is the most effective way to avoid HIV.

If you choose to perform oral sex, and your partner is male,

* use a latex condom on the penis; or
* if you or your partner is allergic to latex, plastic (polyurethane) condoms can be used.

Studies have shown that latex condoms are very effective, though not perfect, in preventing HIV transmission when used correctly and consistently. If either partner is allergic to latex, plastic (polyurethane) condoms for either the male or female can be used. For more information about latex condoms, see "Male Latex Condoms and Sexually Transmitted Diseases."

If you choose to have oral sex, and your partner is female,

* use a latex barrier (such as a natural rubber latex sheet, a dental dam or a cut-open condom that makes a square) between your mouth and the vagina. A latex barrier such as a dental dam reduces the risk of blood or vaginal fluids entering your mouth. Plastic food wrap also can be used as a barrier.

If you choose to perform oral sex with either a male or female partner and this sex includes oral contact with your partners anus (analingus or rimming),

* use a latex barrier (such as a natural rubber latex sheet, a dental dam or a cut-open condom that makes a square) between your mouth and the anus. Plastic food wrap also can be used as a barrier.

If you choose to share sex toys with your partner, such as dildos or vibrators,

* each partner should use a new condom on the sex toy; and
* be sure to clean sex toys between each use.

============================================


So, long story short, the act of oral sex CAN transmit "the virus". Most people think the stomach acid will destroy it, and it may, I'm not so sure though. The problem is everything between the mouth and the stomach. Got a cut inside your cheek, or how about a dry lip that split, or maybe even a tooth problem. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of things that can cause "the virus" to get into your bloodstream before it reaches your stomach.

[To_by]

This is an extremely good review of oral-sex health, and at least the basic risks involved in giving/receiving. It's tough news. But at least being correctly informed about HIV and other STD's gives me a chance to make a healthy decision. I wonder -- does anyone use dental dams? :rolleyes:

[jedinudist]

in one word...

YES

[Long Duck Dong]

the rate of oral transmission of the hiv / aids virus is estimated at 0.04 - 0.06% per contact.....

woman to woman sex...over the cases reported... 91% of them were also drug users ( source CDC )

in 1997 there were NO confirmed cases of oral transmission and only one case of oral to anal transmission

in 1997 oral sex was rated as a moderate risk area for hiv/aids transmission....
in 2006 oral sex is still regarded as a moderate risk...( source CDC )

2007 no cases have been conclusively proven to be linked to oral sex and hiv/aids transmission...( source CDC )

2006 the WHO questioned the findings of hiv/aids related suffers and sexual orientation.....finding no errors

2006..... my sister died from aids.... listed as a bisexual female, infected by a bisexual male / non drug user.......
my sister was in fact a lesbian....the encounter with the male was a random drunken experiment..... the male she was infected by.... was ( for all intent and purposes ) actually hetero and a known and listed drug user and offender

2004 / 05 the nz aids foundation listed 3 people as drug users and hiv positive..... 16 of them were in fact listed drug users........

please excuse me if i ignore the official BS... but I see a different picture

[Mick0128]

This is an extremely good review of oral-sex health, and at least the basic risks involved in giving/receiving. It's tough news. But at least being correctly informed about HIV and other STD's gives me a chance to make a healthy decision. I wonder -- does anyone use dental dams? :rolleyes:

I never use dental dams, but am extremely particular about the guys I fuck around with. I live in NNJ real close to, and work in NYC. Not just any part of the city, the gayest part; Chelsea. There are many, many, stores and clubs where random guys cruise. Of course, I go too, love to blow a stranger. But, after I get his dick in my mouth and go back and forth a couple of times I am done unless there is a condom involved. I am happy to report that I have survived all of previous random anonymous trysts; where I largely swallowed from strange, totally unscathed. I will never swallow again unless it is a m/m monogamous relationship.

[nothings5d]

please excuse me if i ignore the official BS... but I see a different picture

Well, for me even the slightest chance of infection is too great.

Even using a condom with anyone who's HIV positive is too great a risk for me to consider, 98% effectiveness is just not good enough...

[Long Duck Dong]

lol I am not slamming the risk factor.... lol.....as i posted, i lost my sister to aids...i fully understand the risks involved......and i fully acknowledge that there is a risk of hiv/aids....

but i am a realist....i am gonna die one day... i smoke too much, i drink too much... I drive too fast.. i eat the wrong food....yadda yadda yadda...so in light of all that.... I am still gonna hug hiv/ aids sufferers.... and give them a kiss.... and let them know that i care...... I am not placing myself at risk.... I am merely possibly changing the way i am gonna die.... as queen put it in their song * who wants to live forever *


when i refer to the official BS, i am referring to the twisted facts that we are given about aids, and who is infected, the facts don't reflect the truth

[JohnnyV]

Read this:

http://www.gay.com/health/hiv/?sernum=1869

Dr. Klausner ranks high in the SF health dept. The CDC figures are highly inflated because of the pressure under Bush to push abstinence. Oral sex poses an extremely low risk.

In the past, the CDC said mutual masturbation posed a small risk too.

I hate to sound crude, but this is all a matter of deciding what you want from life; it's not a matter of simply safeguarding against everything, even the smallest risk, to live as long as possible.

Why are we alive? If part of living is pleasure and part of pleasure is having a cock in your mouth, and the risk is small, even if there is a risk, you may decide the risk is worth it.

Putting a condom on a cock before oral sex will help, but it still can't eliminate all risk since, as someone has noted, condoms break.

Getting tested with your partner helps, but that still won't bring you to zero risk because partners lie and there is a window period on the test.

What is the alternative for gay and bisexual men? To never have sexual contact, ever again? If there are people who feel that living to age 80 is so important to them that they will give up sex to ensure it, maybe extreme abstinence is advisable. They can do cyber and phone sex. But even then, they might get cancer or blown up in a terrorist attack at the age of 42 and then have lost the gamble.

For me personally, I don't have oral sex with men anymore because I'm a father and want to have another child, and my wife's safety is an issue. But then again, that very situation makes it hard for me to preach to others since (1) I have a sex life and (2) I'm exposing myself to "risk" by having unprotected vaginal sex with my wife.

No, it's sensible to educate yourself and manage your risk, rather than trying to avoid it entirely.

J

[izzfan]

I have to agree with JohnnyV, life would be boring if people never took any risks - I mean look how boring the 'health and safety'/'political correctness' brigade are making life. Even so, I mean there is risk and then there is risk -education is the key. I mean if I ever had anal/vaginal sex with anyone then I would use a condom as there is a much higher risk of infection with oral sex. I think the thing with oral sex is that unlike anal/vaginal sex sensations other than thrusting are important and any sort of condom tends to dull sensations [it has been likened to trying to eat a mars bar when the wrapper is still on], however if I knew someone was HIV+ or suffering from an STD then I would probably use protection for oral sex. I suppose the danger is that quite a few of these STDs can be asymptomatic in some cases or have an 'incubation period' in which they aren't easily detected so someone may have one without realising. I guess the advice to everyone is to educate yourself about sexual health and be careful.

Izzfan :flag3:

[nothings5d]

But even then, they might get cancer or blown up in a terrorist attack at the age of 42 and then have lost the gamble.

I hate it when people lump terrorism in with things like that. Do you realize that in 2001, the worst year for terrorism in the US, only 3000 people died from terrorism, while over 500,000 people died from cancer.

Yes, you read that right, over half a million people died from cancer in 2001, the actual number I read put cancer deaths at 553,400, that means that if the law of averages holds on september 11'th and 12'th 3032 people died from cancer, putting the number of deaths on those two days at higher than total terrorism deaths in the US all year.

Terrorism doesn't scare me, and it shouldn't scare you either. What we should be scared of is a Government that makes it such a big issue. Who wants a government that keeps you on the wrong issues, we should take all the money spent combating terrorism and spend it on cancer research.



Oh, by the way, that number comes from an estimate by the American Cancer Society so I think we can hold it as pretty acurate.

Read it yourself (http://www.cancer.org/downloads/STT/F&F2001.pdf)




Oh, and sorry for going off topic in my own thread, it's just that all this hype about terrorism really pisses me off.

[Long Duck Dong]

roflmao.... thats hilarious...


we should not worry about terrorism ????

we should be worried about extreme groups that exist in our own country that believe in killing for christ.... wiping out the legal immigrants.....neutering gays ..etc etc.... and I am NOT Talking about extreme muslims either

dude that is also terrorism.... its not confined to people in aircraft hitting buildings

terrorism is the act of using force / acts of terror / violence / aggression...in order to push / force others to submit to your beliefs

I have more chance of being attacked by people and assaulted cos i associate with gays / les / TG / bi than i do of catching hiv / aids....and it has happened....a NUMBER OF TIMES... but i have never got cancer or hiv.....

i have been attacked for being bi, for being a wiccan witch, for defending the basic rights of others......

and most of the time its by christian groups.....

[DiamondDog]

I've yet to see a single medical paper that says you can't catch HIV from oral sex. The debate is only about how big a risk is it.

But the gay popular press consistently misrepresents that with uninformed "debate" and illfounded criticism.

I do know it's virtually impossible to get it with a healthy dick (no open cuts/sores/leisons) getting oral sex. You can get other STDs very easily but not HIV.

[wanderingrichard]

ok, read thru this.. after all is said and done, no matter what? yeah i have a sneaking, gut wrenching, suspicion that we can get it via oral sex... just like we were told ya cant get it from mosquito bites but that has been proven wrong too, hasn't it?

if you can convince me otherwise, please do so..
Rich

[Long Duck Dong]

lol if somebody shown me a piece of paper that stated there is absolutely NO risk of contracting aids thru oral sex... I would call them a liar simply cos i know the risk does exist....

if hivs / aid is transmitted thru sexual contact ( penile to anus / penile to vagina ) then it MUST be possible to transmit the virus thru oral...penile to mouth

however, as posted, the risk is very slim.... and so a result, my lifestyle will not change...

its a bit like the get cancer from drinking coffee... you only need to drink 500 cups a day for 20 years to get a 0.05% chance of getting cancer from it

or the cancer from eating white bread... and you only need to eat 500 loaves a day for 10 years to have a 0.08% cancer of getting cancer....

the risks are minimal...lol and in order to be at risk, you need to go to extremes ... to totally be at risk

[AngelOfTheMystic]

Thank you for the info it's always good to have the facts :) I know that when it comes to being safe about sex that is something that I am really picky about because it is easy to get anything now adays and that is scary.

[bigregory]

or the cancer from eating white bread... and you only need to eat 500 loaves a day for 10 years to have a 0.08% cancer of getting cancer....


If you could eat 500 loaves of white bread in a day the last thing you would care about is cancer or hiv.
There is enough L.S.D. in that amount to have you more worried about the green men that are coming out of the walls.
http://www.answers.com/topic/ergot
Yes this is in your bread.
I wont tell you whats in your yogurt...

[DiamondDog]

or the cancer from eating white bread... and you only need to eat 500 loaves a day for 10 years to have a 0.08% cancer of getting cancer....


If you could eat 500 loaves of white bread in a day the last thing you would care about is cancer or hiv.
There is enough L.S.D. in that amount to have you more worried about the green men that are coming out of the walls.

there's no LSD in white bread.
It doesn't cause this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergotism

[wanderingrichard]

or the cancer from eating white bread... and you only need to eat 500 loaves a day for 10 years to have a 0.08% cancer of getting cancer....


If you could eat 500 loaves of white bread in a day the last thing you would care about is cancer or hiv.
There is enough L.S.D. in that amount to have you more worried about the green men that are coming out of the walls.
http://www.answers.com/topic/ergot
Yes this is in your bread.
I wont tell you whats in your yogurt...

greg,
you can keep that nasty yogurt stuff... isn't fit for human consumption, period. fact, it ranks right there at the bottom of the desirable food chain next to cabbage.

for those of you who didnt catch it, the link greg gave us also has the word "ERGOT" in it... which is a form of mold or rust that grows on grains.. and yes, that does contain LSD, but more importantly, it's a very powerful poison. i found this out researching the dark age mass hysteria's of england and france for college, and evidence pointed to the populations eating bread that had been made from flour that came from ergot tainted grains.

sorry, the heat from baking doesnt kill the chemistry, though normal, modern baking methods and grain storage has pretty much eliminated the possibility of ergot poisoning.
Rich

[Isadora]

Hi!

I'm not sure if someone already mentioned this, but I used to work with the Teen Sex Information Program in Toronto and we were told that flossing your teeth before performing oral sex can increase your chances of contracting HIV or any other STI. I guess flossing can irritate or break the gums and allow the virus to enter your blood stream more easily.

So if you're not planning on using protection, don't floss!!! I know that may sound gross if you're an oral hygiene zealot but if you skip it once I'm sure no one will notice.

:)

[fishfry29]

I hate it when people lump terrorism in with things like that. Do you realize that in 2001, the worst year for terrorism in the US, only 3000 people died from terrorism, while over 500,000 people died from cancer.

Yes, you read that right, over half a million people died from cancer in 2001, the actual number I read put cancer deaths at 553,400, that means that if the law of averages holds on september 11'th and 12'th 3032 people died from cancer, putting the number of deaths on those two days at higher than total terrorism deaths in the US all year.

Terrorism doesn't scare me, and it shouldn't scare you either. What we should be scared of is a Government that makes it such a big issue. Who wants a government that keeps you on the wrong issues, we should take all the money spent combating terrorism and spend it on cancer research.



Oh, by the way, that number comes from an estimate by the American Cancer Society so I think we can hold it as pretty acurate.

Read it yourself (http://www.cancer.org/downloads/STT/F&F2001.pdf)




Oh, and sorry for going off topic in my own thread, it's just that all this hype about terrorism really pisses me off.

Ask any of those 3000 if they would have gone to work that day, knowing some nutcases were piloting a airliner into their building.... maybe 1 in a thousand will get HIV from sucking cock....but do I want to win that lottery.? ...hell no!!