I've been stressing about this all week. I just wanted to get some information from a professional. Had a friend come over for videogames. Never had a gay experience before. My friend had the idea of manual masturbation. Never done this before and my fiance was out of the house. I thought why not. We used nitrile gloves on each other's penis with lube of course. Both of us came. I threw my glove away in the bathroom plastic trashcan. I made sure not to make any contact with doorknobs or anything with that glove. I've been disinfecting door knobs, light switches, and washing my hands like crazy. After 4 days of this contact, I wanted to lessen my fears and double check that the glove was not ripped during. Since I had multiple used gloves in the trash can, it was hard to find which one exactly but I checked all of them for tears. Luckily, I didn't find any. I had a sense of fear when one of the used gloves lightly brushed past my wrist. I quickly removed my gloves and started washing the wrist and my hands with soap and water. By me removing my gloves, I think it slightly tore the skin on the top part of my hand near the knuckle. Is there a chance that while I was washing my hands and wrist that any bacteria could of traveled to the tiny scratch near my knuckle? Could any kind of std live on a latex glove for four days? I've read that they can be alive for seconds and some for weeks outside the body which scared me. Since we used gloves for manual masturbation, is there a small chance of catching any stds? Or is it definitely zero? I'm specifically worried about herpes and HPV since there is no test for them. Would stds linger on objects for very long? It would kill me if my amazing fiancé caught any of those from this stupid unfaithful act. Not sure what to do. I feel horrible. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

You needn't worry at all:  to quote your own phrase, the STD risk "is definitely zero". Even without the protection of gloves, hand-genital contact is risk free for all STDs. One can imagine a theoretical risk of those infections transmitted skin-to-skin, like herpes and HPV. But in practice it is exceedingly rare, if it occurs at all. And for sure there is no risk for HIV, gonorrhea, chlamydia or syphilis. Whether or not the gloves had defects in them, this is nothing to worry about. You don't need testing for anything. As for your statement "I feel horrible", my advice is to separate your fears of infection from whatever shame, guilt or anxiety you are experiencing just from the experience itself. They aren't the same! Deal with the latter as you need to -- but also be aware that such experimentation is extremely common these days. But for sure please don't worry about STDs or any other infections. It's truly not an issue.

I hope these comments are helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear. Best wishes and stay safe.

HHH, MD

It does not matter whether living STD bacteria or viruses remained on the gloves when you later contacted them. You were not at risk regardless.

STDs are that way because the causative bacteria and viruses evolved to require large amounts of them to contact body cells or parts that are deep inside or otherwise not readily exposed. This is exactly the opposite of some infections, like influenza, colds, etc. These biological features is why we never see STDs in people who haven't actually had sex.

Please do your best to stop worrying, and ignore any other "what if", "yes but", or similar questions that may come to mind. Trust me on this:  there is no scenario that would make the events you described any risk for any STD. Got it?

Sharing sex toys counts as "having sex", when toys are used in rapid succession from one person to another. Even then, few infections actually occur that way. 

Thanks for the thanks. I'm glad the discussion has been helpful. Best wishes and stay safe.