Should I Have Oral Sex
Talking to your partner about protection before you start having oral sex will help make things easier. This may feel embarrassing but taking responsibility for protecting yourself and your partner is an important part of having sex. If you find it too awkward to talk about then you may not be ready to have oral sex just yet.
You should never give or receive oral sex just because you feel forced into it. Dont be pressured into any sex act by comments like it doesnt mean weve had real sex youll still be a virgin, or if you dont want sex at least go down on me, or its not as risky as having intercourse. If one of you isnt comfortable with the decision it can ruin the whole experience. Oral sex should be fun for both of you.
Our article Am I ready for sex? will help you work out what is right for you.
When A Person Infected With Chlamydia Is Contagious
- Chlamydia can be transmitted by an infected person immediately after they become infected.
- Chlamydia infection can be passed regardless of whether the infected person has symptoms.
- The infected person will continue to be contagious until seven days after they finish treatment âit doesnât matter whether they have any signs or symptoms of the disease.
How To Minimize Risk
Clearly, the best way to minimize the risk of infection is to practice safer sex. This is especially true if you have multiple sex partners or are unsure about the health of a sex partner. These include condoms and dental dams for those engaging in cunnilingus or anilingus.
There are additional strategies that can further reduce risk:
- If you are HIV-positive, take your HIV medicine as prescribed. If your viral load remains undetectable, you have effectively no risk of sexually transmitting HIV to HIV-negative partners.
- If you are HIV-negative, you can ask your healthcare provider to prescribe HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis , a once-daily drug therapy that can reduce your risk of infection by more than 90%.
- Regular HIV screening is recommended for persons at high risk of infection, including MSM, injecting drug users, and persons with multiple sex partners. Periodic STD screenings are also recommended.
Finally, communication is tantamount to the long-term avoidance of HIV. Whether you are HIV-positive or HIV-negative, the most harm comes from leaving things unspoken. Learn more about ways to negotiate safer sex or how to disclose your HIV status to someone you’re dating.
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How Safe Is Oral Sex
Although it is possible to become infected with HIV through oral sex, the risk of becoming infected in this way is much lower than the risk of infection via unprotected sexual intercourse with a man or woman.When giving oral sex to a man a person could become infected with HIV if infected semen came into contact with damaged and receding gums, or any cuts or sores they might have in their mouth.
Giving oral sex to a woman is also considered relatively low risk. Transmission could take place if infected sexual fluids from a woman got into the mouth of her partner. The likelihood of infection might be increased if there is menstrual blood involved or if the woman is infected with another sexually transmitted disease.
The likelihood of either a man or a woman becoming infected with HIV as a result of receiving oral sex is extremely low, as saliva does not contain infectious quantities of HIV.
Can I Get Hiv From Injecting Drugs
Yes. If you share injection drug equipment with someone who has HIV, your risk is high.
Risk also depends on whether the person who has HIV is using antiretroviral therapy consistently and correctly, and whether the person who is HIV-negative is using preexposure prophylaxis consistently and correctly.
Sharing drug equipment can also be a risk for spreading HIV. Infected blood can get into drug solutions by
- Using blood-contaminated syringes to prepare drugs.
- Reusing water.
- Reusing bottle caps, spoons, or other containers to dissolve drugs in water and to heat drug solutions.
- Reusing small pieces of cotton or cigarette filters to filter out particles that could block the needle.
Street sellers of syringes may repackage used syringes and sell them as sterile syringes. For this reason, people who continue to inject drugs should get syringes from reliable sources of sterile syringes, such as pharmacies or needle-exchange programs.
It is important to know that sharing a needle or syringe for any use, including skin popping and injecting steroids, hormones, or silicone, can put you at risk for HIV and other blood-borne infections.
For more information, see If I use drugs, how can I prevent getting HIV?
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How Can You Reduce The Risks
There are several ways to reduce the risk of HIV transmission from oral sex. Naturally, some will be more acceptable than others to different individuals, so you must make your own decisions about the level of risk you find acceptable. If you would like to discuss these issues, ask to see a health adviser, or other health professional, at your HIV treatment centre or sexual health clinic. Many of the strategies below will also provide protection against other sexually transmitted infections:
If you are living with HIV, taking HIV treatment as prescribed, so that you maintain an undetectable viral load is the most effective way of preventing HIV being passed on.
If you are HIV negative and are concerned that you may be vulnerable to acquiring HIV, you may want to consider taking pre-exposure prophylaxis .
How Do You Give A Woman Oral Sex
Before you begin giving a woman oral sex, she may enjoy it if you spend some time kissing and touching her upper thighs and the area around her vagina first, to help her get aroused.
The whole genital area is sensitive, but for most women the clitoris is the most sensitive part. Gently part the outer lips of the vagina and look for the vaginal opening, and the hooded clitoris just above it.
Start off softly, using a relaxed tongue to make slow movements and work up to faster movements with a firmer tongue. You can experiment moving your tongue in different ways and try different rhythms taking cues from your partner to find out what she enjoys most.
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What Are The Chances Of Becoming Infected If He Doesnt Ejaculate Inside Me
While research suggests that high concentrations of HIV can sometimes be detected in precum, it is difficult to judge whether HIV is present in sufficient quantities for infection to occur. To guard against the possibility of infection with HIV or any other STI it is best to practice safer sex by using condoms.
Hiv Transmission From Cunnilingus Or From Receiving Oral Sex
Dear All knowing Alice,
Both you and the Columbia AIDS manual note that the risk of AIDS transmission by unprotected cunnilingus is less than via unprotected anal/vaginal intercourse. What I’d like to know is, how much less? Are there any statistics? Are there any documented cases of AIDS being spread this way? If so, how often does it seem to occur? It’s difficult to know whether it makes sense to take my chances unless I know what the chances are.
Also, both you and the manual say transmission can’t occur without contact with a mucous membrane. I have another AIDS brochure that says there’s at least a small chance the virus could pass through tears around the cuticles of the hand. Is this the case, and if so, how great a risk is there in putting your fingers in somebody’s vagina or anus for extended periods?
Thanks,
What are the risks of HIV infection for the passive partner of oral sex?
Signed,Happy but Worried
Dear Needs the details and Happy but Worried,
For a cunnilingus recipient, the chance of HIV transmission is also low, although the entire vagina is a mucous membrane through which, theoretically, the virus could be transmitted. A woman receiving cunnilingus is more at risk of getting herpes or gonorrhea from her partner than of contracting HIV. Also, a person giving oral sex to a woman may want to avoid doing so during her period, as menstrual blood can carry enough HIV to spread an infection.
Have fun while you’re staying safe!
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Facts About The Risk Of Contracting Hiv Infection Through Receiving Oral Sex
Here we will discuss the chance of getting HIV through receiving oral sex from an HIV-positive person.
Receiving oral sex with mouth-to-penis contact
The likelihood of getting HIV from being given a blow job is very low. HIV transmission this way is unlikely because enzymes in saliva neutralize many viral particles, even if the saliva contains blood.
Receiving oral sex with mouth-to-vagina contact
There is no likelihood of getting HIV when an infected personâs mouth comes in contact with your vagina, as no cases of this occurring have been documented and reported in reliable sources.
Receiving oral sex with mouth-to-anus contact
The risk of contracting HIV through one act of an HIV-positive personâs mouth coming in contact with your anus is negligible.
How To Protect Yourself
Since there is still a chance that you could get infected with HIV through oral sex, you should always take precautions. Here is what you can do to lower your risk:
Do not let a male partner ejaculate in your mouth. You can do this if you remove your mouth from their penis before they ejaculate, or if you use a condom.
Use a condom or dental dam. A dental dam is a thin square piece of latex or silicone that you place over the vagina or anal area during oral sex. You can also cut a latex condom lengthwise and use it the same way.
Both of these barriers also lower the risk of infection from other STDs such as gonorrhea of the throat or hepatitis. Use a new one every time you have oral sex. Check the expiration date on the package, and make sure there are no tears or defects.
Don’t use oil-based products like baby oil, lotion, petroleum jelly, or cooking oil on condoms or dental dams because that can cause them to break. If you need lubrication, use a water-based or silicone-based product instead. Always use a condom or dental dam during your period since the virus can be present in menstrual blood.
Don’t brush your teeth just before oral sex. If you do, your mouth or gums may bleed, which raises chances of infection.
Skip oral sex during risky times. This includes a time when you have sores around your mouth, genitals, or anus , gum damage, a throat infection, or after dental work.
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So There Is Only A Low Risk For Contracting Hiv When Having Oral Sex What About Other Stis
While it is low risk for HIV there is the possibility of contracting other Sexually Transmissible Infections such as chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis. These are all bacterial infections, so the good news is they are easily treated and cured.
Syphilis can be spread through oral, anal or vaginal sex. It can even be spread when there is no visible sore present. If youre having multiple sexual partners even if youre only having oral sex its a good idea to make sure you are getting a sexual health check every 3 months to ensure you dont have an STI.
The presence of an STI does increase the risk of HIV transmission. This is true whoever has the STI. If the negative person has an STI it increases their susceptibility to contracting HIV as it may cause breaks in the skin and allow entry of the virus as well as activate the bodys immune response in that area. Its these immune cells that HIV targets. If the HIV positive person has an STI, HIV transmission is more likely as the presence of an STI causes and increase in the amount of HIV in cum and pre-cum.
The best way to protect ourselves and the guys we fuck is to regularly use condoms and have regular sexual health tests, whether were HIV positive or negative, to make sure we dont also have other STIs.
Can I Get Hiv From Oral Sex
There is considerable debate within the HIV/AIDS prevention community regarding the risk of transmission of HIV through oral sex. What is currently known is that there is some risk associated with performing oral sex without protection . While no one knows exactly what that risk is, cumulative evidence indicates that the risk is less than that of unprotected anal or vaginal sex. The risk from receiving oral sex, for both a man and a woman, is considered to be very low.
Currently, risk reduction options when performing oral sex on a man include the use of latex condoms, but also include withdrawal before ejaculation without a condom and/or refraining from this activity when cuts or sores are present in the mouth.
When performing oral sex on a woman , moisture barriers such as a dam , a cut-open and flattened condom, or household plastic wrap can reduce the risk of exposure to vaginal secretions and/or blood.
If you have other questions about oral sex and HIV, call the CDC National AIDS Hotline at 1-800-342-2437 , 1-800-344-7432 , or 1-800-243-7889 .
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Hiv Treatment & Undetectable
Todays HIV treatments, called antiretroviral therapy or ART, are extremely effective. Some treatments are a single tablet. Long-acting injectable medications are likely to be approved and available soon. Medicine has come a long way since the first HIV treatment options became available in the 1990s.
There is still no functional cure for HIV, but ART can help people live long, healthy lives. Todays medications are provided in combinations that reduce a persons viral load to levels so low its undetectable. People who become undetectable cannot transmit the virus to others.
Viral load is a term that describes how much virus a person living with HIV has in their body.
Without HIV medications, the virus replicates which causes the amount of virus in the body to increase.
HIV medications prevent HIV from making copies of itself. Then, the amount of HIV in the body goes down.
To see how well HIV treatments are working, doctors and other providers measure the amount of virus in the blood and report a measurement called your viral load. Its simply a measurement of how many copies of the virus are in a single unit of blood.
A very low amount of virus may even be undetectable by viral load tests . A common undetectable level is < 20 copies per milliliter of blood. Low viral loads are those that are less than 200 copies per milliliter. Very high viral loads can be over 500,000 copies per milliliter.
Who Is At Higher Risk Of Having Chlamydia Infection In General
It is important to know the general statistics on chlamydia prevalence based on age, gender, sexual orientation, and region to know the likelihood of getting it. The higher the chance of having chlamydia in general the higher the chance of passing and getting it orally.
This list tells us the highest chance of chlamydia in different categories of people:
- Young people have highest prevalence of chlamydia compare to other age groups
- Females has a higher chance of having chlamydia than male 1.75 times higher chance than in male
- MSM- male having sex with male-have highest prevalence based on sexual orientation
- People with multiple partners
- Practicing unsafe sex increase the chances getting chlamydia
- Highest rate among ethnic minorities with highest among African American
- Highest chance of chlamydia in the South
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Can I Get Hiv From Receiving Medical Care
Although HIV transmission is possible in health care settings, it is extremely rare.
Careful practice of infection control, including universal precautions protects patients as well as health care providers from possible HIV transmission in medical and dental offices and hospitals.
The risk of getting HIV from receiving blood transfusions, blood products, or organ/tissue transplants that are contaminated with HIV is extremely small because of rigorous testing of the US blood supply and donated organs and tissues.
It is important to know that you cannot get HIV from donating blood. Blood collection procedures are highly regulated and safe.
How To Reduce The Risk
Although the risk of HIV passing to another person through oral sex is low, people can take steps to reduce it further.
For example, people with HIV can avoid ejaculating in the mouth of their sexual partner. They can do this by using a condom or withdrawing the penis before ejaculation.
A dental dam is another option. This is a small latex or silicone sheet that a person places over the vagina, anus, or mouth during sex.
Flossing or brushing the teeth can cause the gums to bleed, so it might also help to avoid this right before sexual activity.
People without HIV can take additional steps to avoid transmission, including:
- taking pre-exposure prophylaxis medication beforehand
- using condoms or dental dams correctly during all sexual activities
- avoiding lubricants with an oil base, such as Vaseline or baby oil
- taking post-exposure prophylaxis within a couple of days after the sexual contact
- getting regular sexual health checkups
People with HIV should take antiretroviral medication exactly as their doctor recommends.
In the early stages of HIV, people might experience:
- a fever
- rashes that are not itchy
- aching muscles
- swollen glands, or lymph nodes
- oral sores
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Chance Of Getting And Passing Chlamydia Via Mouth
The likelihood of getting and passing infection via mouth-to-rectum oral sex with one time contact differ significantly depending on the part infected at the time of the contact: mouth or rectum
- The chance of getting oral chlamydia after contacting with infected anus is from 2.6% to 3.6%
- The chance of passing chlamydia from infected throat to the rectum is from 13.1% to 32.5%