[Question #10303] Question about French Kiss HIV Risk and HPV
24 months ago
|
8 months ago I had protected sex with a csw. I didn't have anything on my mind, but 4 months after intercourse, something appeared on my tongue. I saw two dermatologists and one of them told me that it was hpv-induced heck disease and that he would spray liquid nitrogen and the other doctor said that it was the tongue papilla but it was swollen and that it would pass over time, but it is still on my tongue. Then, when I researched heck disease, I saw that it was common in HIV patients. Then I had an HIV test on days 58,72,91 and 180 and all of them were negative. I also had 2 doses of gardasil vaccine 4 years ago. After all this I swore I would never have a sexual relationship with anyone again. However, I broke this vow and had a 20 second deep kiss with someone but she was not a csw. As for my questions,
1.I have been vaccinated against hpv, how can I get hpv on my tongue there are no symptoms on the genitals? Is it because I didn't get the 3rd dose? Or is it a papilla, like the other doctor said?
2.Do I risk getting hiv from someone because of deep kissing?
3.Do you recommend a new hiv test because of the French kiss?
4.8 months have passed, but there is no hpv in the genitals, does this mean that it will not happen?
5. Does oral HPV only occur in people with HIV? Should I trust my previous test results?
I apologize if my questions were complicated. These are the questions that come to my mind.
![]() |
Edward W. Hook M.D.
24 months ago
|
Welcome to our forum. Thanks for your confidence in our service. I’ll be glad to provide some information and hope that you will find it helpful.
---
Let me start by saying that given that you really do not know what the bump on your tongue is; your two dermatologists came to two different conclusions, thus you really don’t know what the bump on your tongue is. The only way to prove that this is Heck disease and/or related to HPV infection would be by having a biopsy, which personally I do not think it’s necessary. Heck disease is indeed due to HPV. However, the types of HPV which cause heck disease are not the types which are most common as genital infections. Please remember that there are over 100 different types of HPV, and only certain types infect the genitals while other types preferentially infect other parts of the body such as the warts people get from time to time on their hands or plantar warts on their feet. Heck disease is associated with HPV types 13 And 32, neither of which is covered by the HPV vaccine and are not common in the genital tract. If this is heck disease, however, the medical literature suggests that the bump will go away without treatment overtime. What is your lesion treated?
With those initial statements, let me direct myself to your specific questions:
1. See my comments above. I think you need a tiebreaker to evaluate this lesion and would recommend that rather than seeing a dermatologist, at this time it might be worthwhile to see an ENT specialist. Most importantly, however my suspicion is that this is a benign process, which should not cause you to worry. In addition, as I explained below, I am confident that this is unrelated to your commercial sex worker encounter eight months ago.
I should also add that, with regard to the possibility of Heck disease, that while this infection may have been reported in persons with HIV, by no means do most people who have it have HIV.
2. There is known association of acquisition of HIV with kissing and saliva exchange, including deep slash French kissing.
3. I see no reason for further testing for HIV. All four of your HIV tests were taken at times when your results are entirely conclusive. You do not have HIV I need not worry about it.
4. Even most single, unprotected, sex encounters do not result in transmission of HPV infection. Between your previous vaccination, that you were using a condom, and the passage of eight months since your encounter, I see no reason to worry further about HPV or, for that matter, any other STI.
5. Oral HPV, while far less common than genital infections, occurs in persons with and without HIV. In fact, most persons with oral HPV do not have HIV. As I said above, you should have complete confidence in your HIV test results.
I hope this information is helpful. In addition to my comments above, I have one other suggestion. Please do not seek additional information regarding the bump on your tongue or your risk of HIV on the Internet. The information found there is all too often unreliable, and there is no way to tell what is true and what is not. EWH
24 months ago
|
There is known association of acquisition of HIV with kissing and saliva exchange, including deep slash French kissing.
According to this answer, do I have to get tested then? Because this kiss happened after my last test. I didn't take any test after the kiss. I'm confused?
![]() |
Edward W. Hook M.D.
24 months ago
|
No one has ever been proven to have been infected with HIV through deep kissing, including deep/“French” kissing. There is absolutely no reason related to kissing to test for HIV. EWH ---