Can Hiv Be Passed Via Oral Sex
Although the risk is extremely low, HIV can be passed from one person to another during oral sex depending on a number of factors.
First of all, if the person with HIV is receiving effective medication against the condition and they have an undetectable viral load, then it is not possible for them to pass on HIV through oral sex.
However, for people yet to be diagnosed with HIV or not receiving medication there is a greater risk of them transmitting the infection.
Public Health England estimates that between 1-3% of all HIV transmissions in the UK come as the result of oral sex, whilst other studies quote numbers even lower.
Estimating The Risk Per Exposure
A satisfactory answer to the question, How high is the risk of HIV transmission through oral sex? has been notoriously elusive. Collecting reliable data is challenging for several reasons:
- Very few people report oral sex as their sole risk.
- Self-reported data on sexual behaviour are hard to collect accurately, with participants failing to report condomless anal or vaginal sex they have had.
- If a person practises any other form of unprotected intercourse in addition to unprotected oral sex, any resulting HIV infection is usually attributed to the higher risk behaviour.
- Studies have frequently grouped all oral sex practices together, often not distinguishing receptive from insertive roles, whether ejaculation occurred in the mouth, etc.
Many reports of oral transmission are in the form of isolated and anecdotal reports, rather than from observational cohorts or other studies with more rigorous follow-up.
Most cohort studies following men who only practiced oral sex, or serodiscordant couples, have tended to show very low levels of risk, in many cases approaching zero. A few studies have given higher estimates which are difficult to reconcile with the others.
Is There A Connection Between Hiv And Other Sexually Transmitted Infections
Yes. Having a sexually transmitted disease can increase the risk of getting or spreading HIV.
If you are HIV-negative but have an STD, you are at least 2 to 5 times as likely to get HIV if you have unprotected sex with someone who has HIV. There are two ways that having an STD can increase the likelihood of getting HIV. If the STD causes irritation of the skin , breaks or sores may make it easier for HIV to enter the body during sexual contact. Even STDs that cause no breaks or open sores can increase your risk by causing inflammation that increases the number of cells that can serve as targets for HIV.
If you are HIV-positive and also infected with another STD, you are 3 to 5 times as likely as other HIV-infected people to spread HIV through sexual contact. This appears to happen because there is an increased concentration of HIV in the semen and genital fluids of HIV-positive people who also are infected with another STD.
CDC recommends sexually active gay and bisexual men test for:
- HIV.
- Syphilis.
- Hepatitis B and C.
- Chlamydia and gonorrhea of the rectum if youve had receptive anal sex, or been a bottom in the past year.
- Chlamydia and gonorrhea of the penis if you have had insertive anal or oral sex in the past year.
- Gonorrhea of the throat if youve performed oral sex in the past year.
Sometimes your health care provider may suggest a herpes test.
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Using Saliva As Sexual Lubricant Can Spread Hiv Hepatitis Physicians
Medical experts say using saliva as a lubricant during sexual intercourse increases the risk of the human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis, and herpes infection.
They also noted that sexually transmitted infections like candidiasis, chlamydia, syphilis, and gonorrhoea can also be transmitted through the practice.
The physicians urged couples to indulge in foreplay to get lubricated naturally, or get a lubricant that is medically certified before sexual intercourse is initiated.
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Speaking with PUNCH Healthwise, a General Practitioner in Minna, Niger State, Dr. Akinkoye Akinpelu, said an HIV-infected man might have a bleeding gum and once the saliva with traces of blood is used to lubricate, the woman will become infected.
You know that HIV is a disease transmitted through blood contact. A man or woman might have a bleeding gum and probably any of the partners already has a cut due to friction during intercourse. By the time they lubricate with the saliva, the bacteria or virus present gets transmitted.
According to the World Health Organisation, HIV is an infection that attacks the bodys immune system, specifically the white blood cells, called CD4 cells.
The WHO noted that HIV destroys these CD4 cells, thereby weakening a persons immunity against infections, such as tuberculosis and some cancers.
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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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Isnt Hiv Only A Risk For Certain Groups Of People
Like most illnesses, HIV doesnt discriminate between types of people and the infection can be passed on to anyone via one of the ways mentioned above.
Some people are more vulnerable to HIV infection if they engage regularly in certain activities that are more likely to transmit the virus. However, its a common misunderstanding that HIV only affects certain groups.
While not everyone has the same level of HIV risk, everyone can reduce their risk of infection.
Can Someone Get Hiv Through Oral Sex
If a person who is infected with HIV gives a partner oral sex, can the partner become infected with HIV? Dan
Yes. Although rare, it is possible to transmit HIV through giving and receiving oral sex.
When someone with HIV gives oral sex, the virus can go from small cuts or sores in the mouth into the uninfected persons body through the urethra , vagina, or anus. When someone with HIV receives oral sex, the virus can enter the other persons body when semen or vaginal fluids get into the mouth.
If either partner also has another STD , it increases the chance of HIV infection even more.
Placing a protective barrier between the mouth and genitals can lower the chances of HIV infection both when giving and receiving oral sex. Guys should always wear a latex condom . Girls should put a dental dam or plastic food wrapping as a barrier over the genitals.
Date reviewed: January 2015
*Names have been changed to protect user privacy.
Note: All information on KidsHealth is for educational purposes only. For specific medical advice, diagnoses, and treatment, consult your doctor.
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Can You Catch Hiv From Kissing
No. Evidence shows that the HIV virus is spread through the exchange of bodily fluids such as blood, semen and vaginal fluids, but not saliva.
Although HIV can be detected in saliva, it cant be passed to other people through kissing because a combination of antibodies and enzymes found naturally in saliva prevent HIV infecting new cells.
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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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Challenges In Calculating A Number
It isnt easy for researchers to calculate the risk of transmission from an exposure to HIV through sex. To do this effectively, a group of HIV-negative individuals need to be followed over time and their exposures to HIVboth the number of times they are exposed and the types of exposureneed to be tracked.
As you can imagine, accurately tracking the number of times a person is exposed to HIV is very difficult. Researchers ask HIV-negative individuals enrolled in these studies to report how many times they have had sex in a given period of time, what type of sex they had, how often they used condoms and the HIV status of their partner. Because a person may have trouble remembering their sexual behaviour or may not want to tell the whole truth, this reporting is often inaccurate.
Furthermore, a person does not always know the HIV status of their partner. For this reason, researchers usually enroll HIV-negative individuals who are in stable relationships with an HIV-positive partner . Researchers can then conclude that any unprotected sex reported by a study participant counts as an exposure to HIV.
Oral Transmission In Natural Hosts
SIV natural hosts are African non-human primates who develop non-pathogenic SIV infection in the wild without progression to AIDS. These natural hosts include sooty mangabeys, African green monkey, mandrill, and many others. Key features of SIV infection of natural hosts include: high viremia , normal peripheral CD4+ T-cell counts , lack of microbial translocation despite significant loss of mucosal CD4+ T cells , and lack of immune activation during chronic infection . These studies have led to a working hypothesis that the lack of disease progression in natural hosts is due to a lack of chronic immune activation .
We propose three non-mutually exclusive hypotheses to explain the restriction of breast milk SIV transmission in natural hosts: lower levels of SIV in natural host breast milk than those observed in pathogenic infections, a relatively non-permissive breast milk and/or gastrointestinal microenvironment, with lower immune activation and the presence of innate and adaptive inhibitory factors, and insufficient target cells for establishment of infection in the natural host infant. To date, no definitive studies have yet been performed that test one hypothesis while controlling for all other potential confounding factors , but a preponderance of data suggests target cell restriction in the infant GI tract is a defining feature of natural hosts that limits MTCT.
Oral mucosa immune activation and HIV susceptibility
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What Extra Precautions Should You Take If You Want To Date A Former Shielder
The most cautious you can be is to take a lateral flow test, be moderately sure that you didnt have Covid on that day, then self-isolate for two weeks, then go on the date. But its very infantilising to think that shielding people cant make their own decisions. Its better to ask them what precautions they would like you to take, and make a call on whether youre happy to follow them.
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.
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Interpreting The Numberswhat Additional Information Needs To Be Provided
Some clients may see these numbers and think their risk of HIV transmission is low. Therefore, caution is needed when interpreting them. If these numbers are provided to clients, they should be accompanied by information that helps shed light on why the risk may be higher than it seems.
Transmission can occur after one exposure.
It is important to emphasize that a person could become infected from having unprotected sex once or a person could have unprotected sex many times and not become infected, regardless of how low or high the risk per exposure is.
A risk of 1% would mean that an average of one infection would occur if 100 HIV-negative people were exposed to HIV through a certain type of sex. It does not mean that a person needs to be exposed 100 times for HIV infection to occur.
These are estimates of average risk in the absence of biological factors that increase risk.
The numbers in the table above are rough estimates. They are averages and do not represent the risk from all exposures to HIV through a certain type of sex.
The more exposures, the greater the risk.
Although the risk of HIV transmission from a single exposure may seem low to some people, this risk increases over multiple exposures. In other words, a person who is exposed to HIV more often has a greater overall risk of HIV transmission than someone who is exposed less often.
Hiv Risk With Sharing Of Needle One Single Time
Sharing a needle one single time with an HIV infected drug user can carry an HIV risk of 63 in 10,000 or 0.63 percent, which can also be stated as 1 in 149. Certain estimates, however, put the risk as high as 2.4%.
Whenever a syringe is used to inject a drug into the vein, a small amount of blood is initially pulled into the syringe to confirm that the needle is in the vein.
Now, when the same needle is used by another individual, the blood from the previous HIV positive person that has stayed in the needle can get injected into the blood stream of the HIV negative person.
HIV does not generally survive well outside the body, but it can survive for long periods of time in an airtight syringe.
Besides the intravenous injection route, the risk exists even if the injection is given by the intramuscular route or the subcutaneous route.
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How Can You Avoid Transmitting Hiv To A Partner
For a person living with HIV, the best way to prevent transmitting it to others is by taking antiretroviral therapy . The medicine reduces the amount of HIV particles in the blood to the point that a test can’t detect it anymore, which is known as having an undetectable viral load. ART prevents HIV from multiplying and makes it a more manageable condition.
“Someone with HIV who takes their medications and is virologically suppressed won’t transmit HIV to sexual partners,” says Neilan. It is possible to get the virus under control within six months. With proper treatment, people living with HIV can live long and healthy lives.
There are plenty of FDA-approved antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV, says Neilan. Some of the most common side effects are nausea, diarrhea, and fatigue, but it varies for each individual. Here are the types of HIV medicines that reduce viral load:
Individuals with HIV are prescribed multi-class drug combinations that require them to take more than one drug. Other types of HIV medicines do not inhibit certain enzymes and instead, interfere with the virus’ ability to infect immune system cells.
How Do You Work With The Fact That Everyone Has Had Different Experiences Of The Pandemic
Robertson says: The most important thing is to be understanding about things you dont quite get. Dating is excruciating anyway, were going to have to be patient with each other. On the specific subject of bereavement, be careful about minimising the virus for instance, making any jokes about it being no worse than a hangover until you know whether the other person suffered a loss, or had long-term health effects themselves.
If someone says they have been bereaved, Robertson says: Dont do that horrible thing of trying to close anything down. Dont look at your shoes not knowing what to do, or try and relate it to your own experience of grief, so suddenly its all about you. Im really sorry that happened, is a full sentence. You dont have to waffle on. Because sometimes that person wants to say that just to get it said, but then theyll want to talk about something else.
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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.