[Question #3234] Clarification about "technical potentiality" of STD/HIV from hand->genital/anal
37 months ago
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Hello Doctor. I apologize in advance this is an oft
repeated question, yet under the tension of anxiety it is immensely helpful to obtain
a personalized response.
In last years I have relied
on the consensual remarks from Dr’s HHH, Hook, Gonzalez-Garcia, and multiple other
prominent on-line MDs in this field, as well as public sites like Vancouver and
New Zealand Health, that hand-to-genital/anal
contact (i.e., no penile penetration nor oral sex of any variation), with or
without lubrication from partner’s saliva or genital fluid “carries no STD risk”, (except a minutely
rare chance of HPV or herpes it seems), certainly NOT for HIV transmission. But,
a qualifier frequently appears, saying “other than theoretical risk”. It is
about this ‘theoretical risk’ I inquire.
What is empirical not
theoretical: I occasionally cause a
small tear in my cuticle to point that drop of blood emits, lasting maybe a few
minutes. It is easy to occur. If a woman had a tiny open cut on hand or finger,
which would be hard to see without very close inspection, and then she put her
finger in or around the anus or grazed the urethra, wouldn't this be the
equivalent of blood exposure of the first order? Doesn't this contradict the
“safe-hands” principle?
I comprehend that in theory any bizarre thing can
happen…a person can use a hypodermic needle with infected blood as a weapon on
a train, say, but we cannot attribute this to “train travel danger” per se. However,
in regard to “hand-sex” (and secondarily
kissing), I am struggling to understand why the comments can be so unequivocal,
when it is so easy to get a small cut which releases some blood. Yet Dr’s HHH
and Hook tell us that, in their combined 70 years experience they have not nor
know of one plausible instance of hand/finger contact transmitting HIV; to
quote Dr Hook, “there is no risk for infection at all
from receipt of masturbation.”
(1) Could you
please help me reconcile what seems a flaw in the logic of “no risk from manual
sex”?
(2) With #1 above addressed, may I be assured that
so long as no obvious fresh wounds of dripping/oozing blood are apparent, I am
medically safe to get “happy ending massages” and do mutual masturbation?
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
37 months ago
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37 months ago
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