Does Saliva Carry Hiv Virus

Blood Transfusions And Organ Donation

Can Mosquito transmit HIV/AIDS virus?

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 tested for several types of bloodborne pathogens, including HIV.

Blood donations that test positive for HIV are safely discarded and dont enter the blood supply. The risk of HIV transmission during a blood transfusion is conservatively estimated to be

, there are no known instances of HIV being transmitted by receiving a tattoo or piercing. However, its technically possible for transmission to occur if equipment or ink is reused or shared.

How Could Hiv Infect The Mouth And Throat

HIV is not able to infect most cells in the mouth. Only one cell type found in the mouth is vulnerable to HIV infection .

The tissue of the mouth and oesophagus is also very thick compared with genital tissues, and fluids stay in contact with it for a very short time because swallowing clears the mouth regularly. The mouth is therefore generally regarded as an unlikely route of HIV transmission.

Saliva contains numerous factors that have been found to inhibit HIV and stomach acid is likely to inactivate HIV in the same way as other viruses .

Can Sharing Dishes Or Drinking Glasses Spread Hiv

Dr. Flash clears up how HIV is and is NOT spread.

You cannot get HIV through casual contact like sharing dishes or drinking glasses, toilet seats, or holding hands. HIV is also not spread through sweat, tears, saliva, or kissing.

The most common way HIV is spread is through unprotected sex with someone with HIV who is not aware of their status or not on antiretrovirals . Unprotected here refers to sex without condoms or the use of medications that reduce the risk of passing HIV from one person to another. HIV can also be transmitted by sharing needles.

#AskTheHIVDoc is a video series from Greater Than AIDS featuring top HIV doctors providing answers to commonly-asked questions about HIV prevention, testing and treatment.

This information is shared for educational purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice. The views expressed are those of the featured medical professional and reflect information available to that professional at time of filming. Always consult a health care provider for any personal health decision.

While we make every effort to keep the medical information on our website updated, we cannot guarantee that the information reflects the most up-to-date research. Also, please note the views expressed by individuals who appear in Greater Than AIDS videos and other content are their own and are not made on behalf of any groups/organizations/associations.

You May Like: Where Is Hiv Aids Most Prevalent

Other Types Of Hiv Transmission

Though less common, the virus can be transmitted through oral sex, transfusions of infected blood, and organ transplants. In rare cases, HIV can be transmitted when infected blood touches a persons open wound or comes into contact with a persons eyes.

The transmission of the virus through oral sex is less common than through any other sexual behavior. However, there still remains a risk. An HIV infected person providing oral sex can transmit the virus when blood in their mouth enters their partners body via the following ways: the lining of the vagina, urethra, anus or in open wounds and cuts. Conversely, an HIV positive person receiving oral sex may pass bodily fluids containing the virus through the mouth of the non-infected partner performing oral sex. This risk is heightened if the non-infected individual performing oral sex has wounds in the throat and/or mouth, if the HIV infected individual ejaculates in his/her partners mouth or if the person receiving oral sex has a sexually transmitted disease . Refraining from sexual behavior is the most successful method in preventing HIV. However, should an individual opt to engage in oral sex, it is strongly recommended that condoms and/or latex barriers are used.

Can You Get Hiv Through Oral Sex

The risk of HIV from oral sex is very small unless you or your partner have large open sores on the genital area or bleeding gums/sores in your mouth.

There is only a slightly increased risk if a woman being given oral sex is HIV-positive and is menstruating. However, you can always use a dental dam to eliminate these risks.

Recommended Reading: How To Live With Someone With Hiv

Hiv Cant Be Transmitted Through Oral Sex

While the risk of infection might be lower when you have oral sex, the possibility is still there. Your risk is especially high if you or your partner have open sores or cuts on your genitals or mouth, bleeding gums, or if broken skin comes into direct contact with semen, according to the AIDS Action Committee.

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.

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.

Read Also

Also Check: Where To Get Hiv Treatment

How Is Hiv Spread

HIV is spread through the exchange of particular bodily fluids like semen, breast milk, and blood.

Important: The most common way HIV spreads is through sexual intercourse. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 138 people per 10,000 exposures are at risk of getting HIV through receptive anal sex.

Other common ways in which you can be infected with HIV include:

Anal sex: Anal sex is the riskiest type of sex to have with a person who has HIV. It becomes even riskier if you are on the receiving end during intercourse. This is because the lining of the rectum is very thin, and can allow the virus to easily pass through.
Penetrative vaginal sex: This is not as risky as anal sex, but is still a very common way for the virus to be spread. Here either party can contract the virus.
Sharing needles and syringes: Sharing needles and syringes for steroids, drugs, or hormones with a person who has HIV puts you at high risk of getting the virus.
Through pregnancy and breastfeeding: HIV can sometimes be passed from a mother to her baby through pregnancy and breastfeeding. This is known as perinatal transmission. Its uncommon for this to occur if the mother is aware of her status and is receiving adequate treatment.

HIV can also be spread in other ways. However, these are rarer:

Is It Possible To Transmit Hiv Through Saliva

HIV Infection, Ways that can transmit , and ways that cannot

It is only possible to transmit HIV through saliva if there are co-factors such as bleeding gums, throat or urethral infections or a high viral load. Saliva does carry the HIV virus but in such low quantities that it is not possible to pass on the infection through kissing or spitting as long as there are no open sores or bleeding gums which result in the exchange of blood. Even cases involving the transference of HIV through saliva with co-factors are extremely rare. However, infection is possible through oral sex but to a much lower degree than anal or vaginal sex.

High concentrations of HIV are present in blood, vaginal fluid, semen, breast milk and any other body fluids which contain blood. Any exchange of these fluids between an infected and a non-infected person is highly risky. There are very low quantities of HIV in saliva so it is not possible to transmit HIV through saliva alone as, to become infected with the virus, there has to be a sufficient quantity of the virus transferred. There is no transmission risk from kissing unless both partners have severely bleeding gums or large open sores in their mouth. There is no risk from sharing glasses, spitting or sneezing as the virus cannot spread or maintain infectiousness in the open air.

Don’t Miss: How Can I Tell I Have Hiv

If I Have Sex With A Commercial Sex Worker Will I Get Hiv

Unprotected sex places you at a high risk of contracting the virus whether it is with a commercial sex worker or anybody else. Statistics from the Caribbean and several other parts of the world have shown that there is a higher prevalence or occurrence of HIV in commercial sex workers . Therefore by having unprotected sex with a commercial sex worker the risk of contracting HIV is high.

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.

Don’t Miss: Is Hiv Testing Included In Std Testing

Myths About Hiv And Aids

FAST FACTS:

There are lots of myths around, but the facts of how you can get HIV, and how you can protect yourself, are very simple.
One of the most common myths people living with HIV hear is that they can be cured. Theres no cure yet for HIV, but antiretroviral treatment works and will keep someone living with HIV healthy.

There are lots of myths and misconceptions about how you can get HIV. Here we debunk those myths and give you the facts about how HIV is passed on

HIV can only be passed on from one person to another via the following bodily fluids:

blood

It Would Take Too Many Bites

HIV actually isnt very easily transmittable. It takes a large amount of the virus being transmitted for someone to contract it.

Even if some HIV were still in a mosquitos body when it bit you if it had yet to be fully digested there wouldnt be enough of it to transmit to you.

HIV is transmitted through direct contact with certain bodily fluids that contain HIV. These fluids include:

blood
rectal fluids

These fluids must enter the persons body for them to contract HIV.

HIV is mainly transmitted through sex without a condom or other barrier method, and through the sharing of needles.

In some cases, HIV can be transmitted during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding. However, antiretroviral therapy can greatly lower the risk of this occurring, and its safe to take during pregnancy.

HIV is highly unlikely to be transmitted through saliva.

HIV can only be transmitted when a person with the virus has a detectable viral load . Taking daily medication for HIV can lead to an undetectable viral load, which means HIV cant be transmitted to others.

You May Like: Can You Get Hiv Through Kissing

You May Like: Can You Catch Hiv From Oral

Myth : Abstinence And Condoms Are The Only Ways To Prevent Hiv

Abstinence was touted as a go-to way to prevent HIV transmission back in the 80s and 90s. And even today, that potential benefit is used as an argument for abstinence-only sex ed in schools, despite lots of evidence that those programs just dont work.

Not into the idea of a no-sex lifestyle? Condoms are another option. Research suggests they can reduce the risk of HIV transmission by as much as 95 percent every time you do the deed. Thats why condoms have been recommended as an HIV prevention tool for decades.

However, as of 2012, people got a new option for preventing HIV. Thats when the Food and Drug Administration OKd the first pre-exposure prophylaxis .

These meds offer people with known risk factors, like having sex with someone who has HIV or sharing needles for injectable drug use, a way to reduce their risk of contracting HIV by taking one pill per day.

And it works really well. When PrEP is taken as prescribed, it can slash a persons chances of getting HIV through sex by a whopping 99 percent, according to the CDC.

Also Check: Can You Have Sex With Someone Who Has Hiv

Types Of Studies Reviewed

The authors discuss the use of salivary diagnostics for virus detection with an emphasis on rapid detection of infection by using point-of-care devices. In particular, they review salivary diagnostics for human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis C virus and human papillomavirus. Oral mucosal transudate contains secretory immunoglobulin A, as well as IgM and IgG, which makes it a good source for immunodiagnostic-based devices.

You May Like: Can You Donate Plasma With Hiv

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

If Saliva Can’t Transmit Hiv That Means Kissing Is Safe Right

VERIFY | Can mosquitoes spread HIV, Lyme disease?

Yes, usually, and that’s why kissing is unlikely to be on the radar of anyone considering safe sex for mixed status couples.

However, there’s a theoretical chance that certain kinds of kissing you know, the kind that goes by terms like “making out”, “French kissing”, “tongue kissing”, and “deep kissing” could facilitate contact with blood. This is because it’s possible that both kissers have very small and bleeding injuries in their mouths, caused by things like gum disease and cheek-biting.

Research into this mode of transmission is already very dated, with two different studies published in 1989 . A few years after these studies came out, this literature was joined by one single case study in which HIV was most likely transmitted this way. Both partners reported sexual intercourse exclusively with condoms, and both had bleeding in the oral cavity when the previously HIV negative partner tested positive.

If you just want to peck a friend or relative with a different HIV status than you on the cheek, or receive a cheek-kiss, you’re also good to go.

Also Check: How Does Hiv Prevention Pill Work

How Can You Get Hiv

HIV is found in the following bodily fluids of someone living with the virus:

blood
vaginal fluids
breastmilk.

For you to get HIV, these bodily fluids need to get into your blood through a mucous membrane , via shared injecting equipment, or through broken skin .

There is not enough HIV virus in other bodily fluids, like saliva, sweat or urine, to transmit it from one person to another.

Someone living with HIV who has an undetectable viral load, meaning effective treatment has lowered the amount of virus in their blood to levels where it cannot be detected by a normal blood test, cannot pass on HIV.

A person living with HIV with a detectable viral load can pass the virus to others whether they have symptoms or not.

HIV is most infectious in the first few weeks after infection. At this time many people are unaware of their status.

The main ways you can get HIV are:

Unprotected Sex Is Fine Since We Both Tested Negative For Hiv

There are several ways to test for HIV. The most common is an antibody screening test, in which doctors test for how many antibodies your body makes to fight the virus. But it takes your body a while to generate those antibodies, so theres a window of time in which you could have the virus and still test negative.

If you test negative on an antibody test three months after your last possible risk of infection, you can assume that you dont have the virus, according to the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. But its still important to practice safe sex and get tested regularly.