Response from Mr. Sowadsky
Hi. Thank you for your question.
If you are RECEIVING oral sex from someone else, you are only being exposed
to saliva. The concentrations of the virus in saliva are so low, that nobody
has ever been infected from saliva. Keep in mind however that you can get
other sexually transmitted diseases (like herpes) by receiving oral sex.
However, as far as HIV is concerned, receiving oral sex is extremely low
risk.
If you are GIVING someone oral sex, there is a risk of infection since
pre-cum, semen, vaginal secretions, and menstrual blood can get into your
mouth. The more of these body fluids you are exposed to, the greater the
risk of infection there would be. If you have any open sores, cuts,
abrasions, or gum disease in the mouth, the virus can get into your
bloodstream. The risk is less than vaginal or anal intercourse, but the risk
is real, and transmission can occur. There have already been reported cases
of HIV infection specifically through giving oral sex. In addition to HIV,
while giving oral sex, you could also be at risk for other Sexually
Transmitted Diseases (STD's) including herpes and gonorrhea.
Now, when we're talking about the levels of risk by giving oral sex, there is
no one answer since several variables actually determine the true level of
risk. Let me describe the risks of giving a man oral sex as an example.
Both pre-cum and semen contain high concentrations of HIV. Semen is however
a riskier body fluid because you are normally exposed to a greater quantity
of semen as compared to pre-cum. Does that mean that pre-cum is totally
safe? No! But we can say that the more infectious body fluid you are
exposed to, the greater the liklihood of transmission. So, you can become
infected by pre-cum alone, but you are much more likely to become infected if
the guy cums in your mouth, since you're exposed to a much greater quantity
of his body fluid.
Of course, the virus must also be able to get into the bloodstream through
some type of open sore, abrasion, gum disease etc. The more openings that
HIV has to get into your bloodstream, the greater your risk would be.
Without ejaculation, there still is some risk of getting infected through
giving oral sex, but the risk would be much greater if the man ejaculated in
the mouth. So rather than saying high risk vs. low risk, it's actually a
spectrum of risk.
NO EXPOSURE TO PRE-CUM OR SEMEN: no risk as far as HIV is concerned.
EXPOSURE TO PRE-CUM ONLY: low risk (but still technically possible). The
more pre-cum you get exposed to, the greater the risk would be.
EXPOSURE TO BOTH PRE-CUM AND SEMEN: risky, especially if there are cuts/open
sores in the mouth. The more semen you're exposed to, and the more
cuts/abrasions/gum disease in the mouth, the greater the risk. But overall,
although risky, it is still generally considered less of a risk than
unprotected intercourse.
So again, we're talking about a spectrum of risk. This is why there will be
no absolute answer of high vs. low risk of giving oral sex. But we can say
that HIV has now been found to be transmitted by GIVING oral
sex....especially if there is ejaculation (but not receiving oral sex). Also
keep in mind that if you are giving a woman oral sex, the same principals
apply, that is, the more vaginal secretions and menstrual blood that you get
in your mouth, the greater the chance of infection.
And by the way.....A VERY IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER is that there doesn't
necessarily have to be ejaculation to be infected with other Sexually
Transmitted Diseases (STD's). For example, if you give a man oral sex, and
that man has gonorrhea, you could get infected with gonorrhea in the throat,
whether the man ejaculates or not. Gonorrhea can cause a discharge that can
be very infectious if it gets into the throat (or penis/rectum/vagina) of
another person. So things that may be lower risk for HIV (giving oral sex
without ejaculation) may be high risk for other diseases, like gonorrhea.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to call the Centers for Disease Control at 1.800.232.4636 (Nationwide).
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