[Question #3887] Vagina Fluid on my hand touch my penis

33 months ago

Dear Dr.

Two weeks ago,  I met a lady who I do not know her HIV status (or any STD), (Apology for describing ) I went with her to her place where I sucked her nipples and fingered her vagina till she was wet, I did not kiss her nor have any type of insertive or oral sex (no vagina nor anal) since I even did not take off my cloths, but I remembered that I touched  my bare penis with the fingers I fingered her with after we finished (cannot remember whether my fingers were wet or dry), then I washed my hand with disinfectant soap and alcohol as well and I did not feel any burning sensation while washing with alcohol then I could assume that I did not have any cut in my fingers, and even washed my penis with alcohol to make sure I am clean.

 My questions:

1-   can I catch HIV, Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C from this exposure keeping in mind that the the penis skin is thin and soft compared to hand skin?

2-  I have sore throat after 5 days from this incident till today (started very mild but today is worse), could this be a symptom for any infection of any STD?

3-  I read plenty of articles over the past two weeks confirming this action is safe and there is NO documented case of any infection with this act , can I be the first documented case considering my sore throat?

4- From medical point of view, what is my risk percentage?

5- Do I need testing? If yes, can I consider anti-bodies tests at the window of 21 days reliable or not?

Thank you very much in advance, you are my last resort to calm my fears

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
33 months ago
Welcome to the forum. Thanks for your confidence in our services.

Sexual transmission of HIV requires intercourse, i.e. penis must enter a partner's vagina, rectum or (very rarely) mouth. There has never been a known case through the sorts of exposure you describe -- no cases by fingering or hand-genital contact, even if vaginal fluid is used for lubrication. You were not at risk, even if you had not washed or used alcohol afterward. The risks for other blood borne infections like hepatitis B or C also are zero for this sort of contact. Washing with soap and water after sex makes sense, although it probably had no effect in your situation, since your risk was zero anyway. However, in the future you should avoid using alcohol on genital skin. It can be irritating and may actually increase risk of STDs.

Those comments pretty well address your specific questions, but to be sure there is no misunderstanding:

1) No risk for any of these infections.

2,3) Sore throat is almost never due to STD, and you were not at risk for any oral infection (and STDs don't travel through the body to cause symptoms at non-exposed sites). You may have a garden variety viral infection, maybe from your sex partner, but not necessarily. There is no chance your sore throat is due to HIV or any other STD from this event.

4) Zero risk -- or certainly no more than one chance in millions.

5) I recommend against any testing on account of this event. However, all people who are sexually active and non-monogamous should be tested for HIV and common STDs (gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis) from time to time, e.g. once a year. If you have otherwise been sexually active, perhaps you should consider testing. But not because of this particular event or your symptoms.

I hope this information is helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.

HHH, MD

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33 months ago
Dear Dr. HHH,

Thank you so much for your reply, for my good luck that you are the expert who answered my questions since I consider you one of the most valuable references in STD information.
Yet, I have some queries from your reply.

1- " in the future you should avoid using alcohol on genital skin. It can be irritating and may actually increase risk of STDs.", does this mean I increased my chance to catch STD by this action in this specific exposure or what, please explain
2- " Zero risk -- or certainly no more than one chance in millions.", so there is a chance even very tiny one so I should avoid unprotected sex with my wife or not? this is a very important question for me since I am feeling guilty already and do not want to increase my guilt by infecting her.

3- "5) I recommend against any testing on account of this event. However, all people who are sexually active and non-monogamous should be tested for HIV and common STDs (gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis) from time to time, e.g. once a year. If you have otherwise been sexually active, perhaps you should consider testing. But not because of this particular event or your symptoms." from this reply, it is not clear whether I should I get tested or not, please clarify.

Thank you again
 
H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
33 months ago
1) Already partly answered above; re-read my reply. Since the risk was zero anyway, soap and water could not have lowered the risk and using alcohol could not have raised it.

2) Nobody can say the risk of zero from such events. But in my 40+ years in the STD business I have never seen or heard of any STD being acquired by such contact. If I were in your situation, I would definitely continue unprotected sex with my wife, with no worry about infecting her with anything from that event.

3) We generally don't tell people to test or not; we just give reasons why someone might want to test or decide against it. As I said, there is no need for testing on account of this exposure, but I gave you a reason why you might want to be tested anyway. In addition to the reasons above, many anxious persons are more reassured by negative test results than by expert opinion based on probability or statistics. In other words, you might be more confident from negative testing than from my advice. It's entirely up to you.
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33 months ago

Dear Dr. HHH,

 

Thank you for your reply, these are my final inquires:

1- With reference to your answer “in my 40+ years in the STD business I have never seen or heard of any STD being acquired by such contact.”, I found a response from you to some inquiry at medhelp.org site, In your reply you stated that you saw some patients infected with HIV and they do not know how they got infected or the exposure led to their infection, may be one of those infected patients could exposed to similar exposure like the one I did?

2-  I did blood donation on April 2018 and Anti bodies tests for HIV, HBV, HCV were negative. In addition, I am not sexually active, my last exposure was a mistake but in all cases I will get tested, I read that I must wait for 3 months, or can I do the anti-bodies tests earlier and give me reliable results?

3-  My sore throat disappeared but there is a burning sensation in my urethra since yesterday, does this indicate a symptom of any STD?

Thank you in advance and I really appreciate your replies and the great work you do by answering and calming my fears

BR,

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
33 months ago
1) When patients deny standard risks, and/or when they attribute HIV or other STDs to things like non-sexual contact, or otherwise do not know the source of their infections, in virtually every case it turns out they were wrong. Many (most?) such persons are simply being untruthful, not wanting to admit to stigmatizing behaviors, such as an extra-marital exposure or being a closeted gay man. Others are unaware of existing risks, such as a spouse or other partner who is at high risk (e.g. having sex with others, injecting drugs with shared equipment). Obviously the ability of questioning the infected person to uncover such events is not 100%, so all data bases show small percentages of infected people with unknown risk factors. But that doesn't mean that the standard risk factors truly were absent. Also, there has NEVER been a PROVED case of HIV acquired from hand-genital contact, kissing, or other contacts of the sort you describe. So if it can occur, it is exceedlingly rare -- and the risk can safely be considered zero.

2) You were also not at risk for HBV and HCV, but in any case, your negative test resullts are conclusive for all those infections.

3) None of these infections ever causes symptoms like you describe, and you were not possibly at risk for any STD that can cause urethral symptoms. Also, burning sensation in the urethra (not associated with urination) is rarely an STD symptom; and absence of abnormal discharge also argues against STD as the cause. If the symptom persists, see a doctor. But it's not due to an STD or any other infection from the sexual event described.

That concludes this thread. If you remain concern, consider carefully re-reading all my replies above, which are meant to be very reassuring. You really have nothing to be worried about.
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