[Question #11842] Risk from sauna visit
12 months ago
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Hi,
First off I’d like to thank you for such a professional, thoughtful service - especially with all the alarmist websites if you search for this stuff on Google.
I went to a gay sauna for the first time last week and while rationally I don’t think I’m high risk I have been really anxious since so would appreciate your on how likely I am to have caught an STI, whether I need testing (I intend to do a screen in a month) and if I need to abstain from sex with my LTP until those results. Sorry for the explicit detail but while I was there:
- I used the steam rooms and sauna without a towel between me and the seats.
- I kissed two men briefly, one with tongue for only a couple of seconds.
- I was grabbed on my penis in passing by a man who had just been engaging in other sexual acts with other men.
- I received and performed mutual masturbation for a minute with two men. I’m not sure if they had been touching themselves or others before.
- one man tried to perform oral sex on me but I stopped him within a second or so of his lips touching my penis. He did not take my penis into his mouth deeply.
- after ejaculation someone who had been engaging in other sexual acts touched my ejaculate on my penis briefly.
-6 days after I developed a fever, cold and sore throat. Rationally I’m sure it’s more likely this is Covid or a cold.
Based on the other posts I’m sure I am mainly feeling anxious due to guilt and other emotions rather than actual high risk exposure.
Thanks in advance
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
12 months ago
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Welcome and thanks for your confidence in our services. I couldn't agree more about the problems with nonprofessional resources on these issues.
Neither HIV nor any other STI has been known to be transmitted by mutual masturbation or any hand-genital contact, fingering, etc. Of course this doesn't prove it never occurs, but certainly it is exceedingly rare. For HIV in particular, transmission requires that large amounts of virus have direct contact with certain cells that typically are internal. There also is little or no risk by oral sex, with no proved cases ever reported of HIV transmitted oral to penis. (Even ejaculation by an HIV infected person into the vagina has around one chance in a thousand of infecting the female partner.)
For those reasons, I too am confident that your symptoms are not due to acute retroviral syndrome (ARS, i.e. initial HIV infection). Not only was the risk nil for all practical purposes, but "cold" symptoms (nasal congestion, sneezing, cough) don't fit with acute HIV infection. Almost certainly your symptoms are just a common cold or covid. The timing also is more consistent with these; 6 days is too soon for onset of ARS.
That said, I also have more personal advice. Having no experience in gay saunas, it seem to me that the occurrence of all these events during a single visit implies you signaled -- whether consciously or not -- that you were receptive to such advances. Which in turn implies you might in fact be susceptible to truly risky exposures, like oral sex (an issue for STIs other than HIV) or perhaps anal sex. I would suggest you have condoms handy if you give gay saunas another try.
I hope these comments are helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.
HHH, MD
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12 months ago
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Thank you for the quick and thoughtful reply. I think I’ve found out from the experience that’s it’s not a situation I’m comfortable putting myself in again.
Just to confirm, would you think I was at risk of contracting any other STI (either through the touching, kissing or the 2 second kiss on my penis)? Other than HIV that we’ve discussed I’m also concerned about any other STI - I think I’ve read that Syphilis, Herpes and HPV are risky given my activities along with a possibility of orally transmitted chlamydia or gonnarhea.
Would you recommend being tested in a few weeks? I am also very concerned about transmitting anything to my wife so should I abstain from sexual activities with her until I get a screen ?
Thanks again
12 months ago
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Just to clarify, I’m not hugely worried by the cold type symptoms but instead the risk of catching something based on the activities.
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
12 months ago
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No, I would not advise testing for anything. There really was no measurable risk of any STI from the events you describe. Oral sex risk requires a lot more than the brief, fleeing oral contact that occurred with your penis; and hand-genital exposure is zero risk. And absence of symptoms within a few days is additional reassurance. If somehow I were in your situation, I definitely would not be tested for anything and would continue unprotected sex with my wife without any worry at all.---
12 months ago
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Thank you very much Dr Handsfield, both for the quick, clear responses and the service provided here in general. It’s a really valuable resource and really appreciated.
All the best
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
12 months ago
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Thank for the thanks. I'm glad to have helped. Take care and stay safe.---