[Question #10222] Receptive oral
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24 months ago
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Hello. I am a 44 year old female residing in Houston, Texas and over four years ago I had a brief fling with an old friend. This fling only consisted of oral sex on five or six occasions. There was no other sex that took place. Each occasion consisted of him performing cunnilingus on me, and me performing oral on him. On only one occasion did he ejaculate in my mouth, which I immediately spit out and rinsed my mouth. Although it has been many years ago, I do not recall any type of ARS symptoms. I am in seemingly good health, and the only reason I’m digging up these events is just based on some things I’ve been reading on the Internet about HIV risks. I think the initial things I was reading were completely inaccurate, but those are the ones that got me in a panic about what I did years ago. I have since brushed up and have read enough things to indicate that there is little risk in oral sex activities (I think the CDC even says “little to no risk”). I even read somewhere that with respect to receptive oral sex, those cases “all involved MSM, and no cases of HIV have been reported among female partners giving condom less oral sex”.
So here are my two questions:
1. After this many years, with no ARS, and in seemingly good health, do I need to go out and get tested now in order to get a “clean slate”
2. In all of your years of experience, have you seen a heterosexual woman that has acquired HIV only from giving condomless oral sex to a straight man?
Thank you so much!
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
24 months ago
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Welcome to the Forum. Thanks for your confidence in our service. I'll be glad to comment. The bottom line is that you have virtually nothing to worry about- more detail below.
The events you describe were ultra low risk. Few men who do not have other men and who do not inject drugs have HIV. Certainly less than 1%. Further, the risk for acquiring HIV by performing oral sex on an untreated HIV infected partner is less than 1 infection per 10,000 sex acts (i.e. like performing fellatio on an untreated, HIV-infected partner daily for more than 27 years). The risk from receiving cunnilingus from an infected partner is lower still. Thus, in response to your questions:
1. After this many years, with no ARS, and in seemingly good health, do I need to go out and get tested now in order to get a “clean slate”
Please see me comments about risk above. Admittedly, not everyone who gets HIV develops the ARS but not experiencing it is a good thing. Your statistical risk is less than 1 in a million and not something I would worry about but testing is a personal decision. Should you choose to test, I am confident that your test will be negative.
2. In all of your years of experience, have you seen a heterosexual woman that has acquired HIV only from giving condomless oral sex to a straight man?
No
I hope this information is helpful. If anything is unclear or there are additional questions, please don't hesitate to use your up to two follow-ups for clarification. EWH
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24 months ago
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Thank you so much! I haven’t had intercourse since but I have gotten “back in the game” with protected intercourse. Final question and I hope it is within the scope of a permitted follow-up. In your years of experience with heterosexual couples, is it safe to say that any HIV positive cases stem from clearly unprotected sex as opposed to ones where a condom failed to do it’s job (or used incorrectly)? So far I am using a condom correctly and every time and don’t want to go into a rabbit hole of panic of “what ifs” if I use condoms and they don’t break and are used correctly. Thanks!
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
24 months ago
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You are right on target. Condoms used from start to finish which do not break ( something that happens about 1% of the time) are highly protective.
FYI a great practice with new partners is to ask about prior STIs and testing. This is a sign of respect, not mistrust. Further, when relationships look,like they may become more regular, a great trust builder is for both persons to go (together if possible) for testing so that the relationship can move forward in a trusting and comfortable fashion.
EWH
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