Transmission: Where Does The Hiv Virus Live
The HIV virus is present in body fluids. Body fluids which can contain significant amounts of HIV are not usually of concern to everyday people amniotic fluid, cerebrospinal fluid and synovial fluid around bone joints, for example, are of concern only to healthcare workers that are involved in invasive surgical procedures.However, the HIV virus is present in the following body fluids in infectious quantities:
- Blood and blood products
- Vaginal and cervical secretions
An HIV-positive person may have HIV in very small amounts in other body fluids such as tears, saliva and blister fluid, but usually not in enough amount to be infectious. Contact with saliva, tears, or sweat has never been shown to result in transmission of HIV.
It is via the exchange of bodily fluids containing HIV virus that person-to-person transmission can occur. The main routes of HIV transmission are through:
- Unprotected sexual contact with an infected person
- Sharing needles with an infected person
- From an infected mother to child during pregnancy, during birth or after birth while breastfeeding.
You are at risk if:
- You have sex without condoms
- You have many sex partners and do not use condoms
- Your sex partner has/have sex with other persons without using condoms
- You share unsterilized needles for intravenous drug use
Nobody is immune to the HIV virus. Anyone engaging in above activities is at risk of infection.
When Can You Get Tested For Hiv
Depending on the type of test, the window period is between 10 days and 3 months.
Until you pass the window period and get your results, its a good idea to avoid activities that can result in another exposure.
This means sticking with lower risk activities, like kissing and masturbation, and using barrier protection for any other sexual activity.
Youre also able to transmit the virus during this period, so its important to let any potential sexual partners know your status is up in the air.
I Don’t Need To Worry About Getting Hiv Drugs Will Keep Me Well
Antiretroviral drugs improve the lives of many people who have HIV and help them live longer. But many of these drugs are expensive and have serious side effects. There’s no cure for HIV. And drug-resistant strains of HIV can make treatment harder.
Prevention is cheaper and easier than managing a lifelong condition and the problems it brings.
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Is It True That Gay Men Are More At Risk For Hiv Than Other People
Although anyone can be at risk for HIV, some people can be more at risk depending upon the types of sexual practices and drug use they are engaging in. Being gay does not necessarily mean you are at higher risk, but certain activities gay men sometimes participate in might put them at greater risk. Overall, the gay male population in Canada has higher rates of HIV infection than some other populations. Stigma and homophobia can affect a person’s ability to access information about safer sex specifically for gay men.
Can I Become Infected With Hiv If I Inject Drugs And Share The Needles With Someone Else Without Sterilizing The Needles
We strongly recommend that you use new equipment every time you inject. You can get new equipment from Counterpoint Needle & Syringe Program at Regional HIV/AIDS Connection.
There is a possibility of becoming infected with HIV if you share injecting equipment with someone who has the virus. If HIV infected blood remains inside the needle or in the syringe and someone else then uses it to inject themselves, that blood can be flushed into the bloodstream. Sharing needles, syringes, spoons, filters or water can pass on the virus. Disinfecting equipment between uses can reduce the likelihood of transmission, but does not eliminate it.
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How Can You Prevent Getting Or Transmitting Hiv Through Sex
If you are HIV-negative, you can use HIV prevention medicine known as pre-exposure prophylaxis or post-exposure prophylaxis to protect yourself. You can also use other HIV prevention methods, below.
If you have HIV, the most important thing you can do to prevent transmission and stay healthy is to take HIV medicine exactly as prescribed. People with HIV who take HIV medicine as prescribed and get and keep an undetectable viral load can live long and healthy lives and will not transmit HIV to their HIV-negative partners through sex. This is sometimes called HIV treatment as prevention or âundetectable = untransmittableâ . There also are other options to prevent transmitting HIV, below.
Is Deep Kissing A Route Of Hiv Transmission
Deep or open-mouthed kissing is a very low risk activity in terms of HIV transmission. HIV is only present in saliva in very minute amounts, insufficient to cause infection with HIV. There has been only one documented case of someone becoming infected with HIV through kissing a result of exposure to infected blood during open-mouthed kissing. If you or your partner have blood in your mouth, you should avoid kissing until the bleeding stops.
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How Is Hiv Not Spread
HIV is not spread by:
- Mosquitoes, ticks, or other insects
- Saliva, tears, sweat, feces, or urine that is not mixed with the blood of a person with HIV
- Shaking hands hugging sharing toilets sharing dishes, silverware, or drinking glasses or engaging in closed-mouth or âsocialâ kissing with a person with HIV
- Drinking fountains
- Other sexual activities that donât involve the exchange of body fluids .
HIV canât be passed through healthy, unbroken skin.
Estimating Risk By Exposure Type
The likelihood of transmitting HIV through oral sex depends largely on the type of contact involved. Putting aside all other risk factors, the potential for infection can vary based on whether the noninfected person is either performing or receiving oral sex.
Broadly speaking, the risk of HIV from oral sex can run anywhere from 0%1%, according to research from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
However, numbers can change once you factor in specific sexual behaviors. Among them:
- Receptive fellatio, meaning that the noninfected person is performing oral sex on a male partner with HIV, is considered exceptionally low risk. Among men who have sex with men , the per-act risk hovers at around 0.04%.
- Insertive fellatio is even less likely given that the enzymes in saliva can neutralize the HIV viral particles.
- Cunnilingus has also proven to be a highly unlikely route.
- Anilingus is also regarded as being of negligible risk, particularly for the receptive partner.
While these figures suggest that the risk of HIV is low from a population perspective, that shouldn’t imply that it is inherently low from an individual perspective. Clearly, the more risk factors you have, the greater the risk of transmission will be.
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How Do You Get Aids
You canât âcatchâ AIDS, which stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
AIDS is the most advanced stage of HIV infection. If a person has HIV and is not on HIV treatment, the virus will weaken the bodyâs immune system and the person will progress to AIDS.
People with AIDS have such badly damaged immune systems that they get a number of severe illnesses, called opportunistic infections.
However, thanks to todayâs effective HIV treatment, most people with HIV in the U.S. do not have AIDS. People with HIV who take HIV medicine as prescribed and get and keep an undetectable viral load can stay healthy and will not progress to AIDS.
People who are HIV-negative can prevent getting HIV by using pre-exposure prophylaxis , medicine that can stop HIV from taking hold in the body. There is also post-exposure prophylaxis , a short course of HIV medicines taken very soon after a possible exposure to HIV to prevent the virus from taking hold in your body. PEP must be started within 72-hours of a possible exposure to be effective. Learn more about these HIV prevention tools and other ways to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV.
Does Hiv Viral Load Affect Getting Or Transmitting Hiv
Yes. Viral load is the amount of HIV in the blood of someone who has HIV. If taken as prescribed, HIV medicine can reduce a personâs HIV viral load very low level, which keeps the immune system working and prevents illness. This is called viral suppression, defined as having less than 200 copies of HIV per milliliter of blood.
HIV medicine can also make the viral load so low that a standard lab test canât detect it. This is called having an undetectable level viral load. Almost everyone who takes HIV medicine as prescribed can achieve an undetectable viral load, usually within 6 months after starting treatment.
As noted above, people with HIV who take HIV medicine as prescribed and get and keep an undetectable viral load can live long and healthy lives and will not transmit HIVto their HIV-negative partnersthrough sex.
HIV medicine is a powerful tool for preventing sexual transmission of HIV. But it works only if the HIV-positive partner gets and keeps an undetectable viral load. Not everyone taking HIV medicine has an undetectable viral load. To stay undetectable, people with HIV must take HIV medicine as prescribed and visit their health care provider regularly to get a viral load test. Learn more.
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Transmission: Oral Sex & Hiv
Giving oral sex to a woman is considered low risk, but not zero risk. Transmission could take place if infected fluids from a woman get 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 STI, which causes breaks in the skin, therefore increasing exposure to blood.
Mother To Infant Transmission
It is possible for a mother who has HIV to pass the virus to her baby by exposure to blood and vaginal fluids during birth or through breast milk during feeding. The risk of transmission from mother to child during pregnancy or birth can be greatly reduced by taking certain HIV medications as prescribed.
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How Can You Reduce The Risks
The most effective ways to prevent HIV being passed on are HIV treatment and PrEP.
There are several other 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 Safe Is Oral Sex
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.
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If You Took Pep Afterward
High-five!
Post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP, is highly effective at reducing the risk of contracting HIV from sexual activity if started within 72 hours of the possible exposure and taken consistently until finished.
How likely is this generally?
Theres no number to quantify the risk of swallowing seminal fluid.Though swallowing does increase the risk of HIV some, fellatio is considered a lower risk activity overall.
Blood Transfusions And Organ Donation
The risk of contracting HIV from a blood transfusion, other blood products, or organ donation is now extremely rare in the United States. All donated blood or blood products in the United States are for several types of bloodborne pathogens, including HIV.
Organ donations are also screened for HIV. Although very rare, its possible for HIV transmission to occur following an organ transplant.
However, testing of organ recipients after surgery can quickly detect transmission so that antiretroviral medications can be started promptly.
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Can You Get Infected With Hiv From Oral Sex
If you’re worried about HIV infection, you may wonder whether it’s safe to have oral sex. While it’s not risk-free, the chances of spreading the virus that causes AIDS are very low if you take the right precautions.
It’s thought to be riskier to give oral sex, rather than receive it. This is because you may have small cuts or sores in your mouth, even if you are not aware of them. There’s also risk from a partner’s fluids, which may get into contact with your mouth and throat.
What Is The Risk From Oral Sex
Results from the PARTNER study show that if someone with HIV is taking effective HIV medication and has an undetectable viral load, they cannot pass on HIV.
According to Public Health England, around 1-3% of sexual HIV transmissions in the UK are because of oral sex. Other studies found that the risk is very low but is not zero.
The risks are higher if the person giving oral sex has:
- cuts, sores or abrasions in their mouth or gums
- a sore throat or infection in the mouth or throat.
Or if the person receiving oral sex is:
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‘can I Get Hiv From Oral Sex Is A Question Weve Been Asked Frequently Through Our Website So Today Weve Put Together Your All You Need To Know About Oral Sex Risk Guide
This article is also available in Simplified Chinese and Thai.
Oral sex is one of the more popular sexual acts encountered in the bedroom with the Australian Study of Health and Relationships revealing that 88% of men in Australia have experienced oral sex. So that perhaps explains the reason why we get asked this sensible question so often: does oral sex put me at risk of getting HIV?
Lets look a little closer
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 type of 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 STI 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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Ways Hiv Is Not Transmitted
How well does HIV survive outside the body?
HIV does not survive long outside the human body , and it cannot reproduce outside a human host. It is not transmitted
- Through saliva, tears, or sweat.
- Through other sexual activities that dont involve the exchange of body fluids .
- Through the air.
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Can You Get Aids From Oral Sex
By | Sept. 3, 2010, 11:58 a.m.
Category:
can you get AIDS from having oral sex with an infected person?
Its rare, but it can happen. Unprotected oral sex puts both partners at risk for a number of sexually transmitted infections, whether they are giving or receiving oral sex. The STDs most likely to be transmitted are gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes, and hepatitis B. Chlamydia and the human papilloma virus are less likely to be transmitted by oral sex. HIV is rarely transmitted in this way.
Planned Parenthood delivers vital reproductive health care, sex education, and information to millions of people worldwide. Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. is a registered 501 nonprofit under EIN 13-1644147. Donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowable under the law.
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