[Question #4599] Oral sex risk

80 months ago

Hi docs

Most grateful for your view of the risk of the following encounter:

1. Received protected oral from 2x female sex workers (European)

2. Performed unprotected oral sex on same 2 sex workers

3. Received hand jobs from both women with lubricant. There may have been some of their saliva involved.

4. No penetration of my penis into either sex worker (vaginal or anal)

48 hours after this incident I started having flu like symptoms (sore throat, aching bones, fever, chills etc) which has thus far persisted for 72 hours.

Im fairly sure the flu thing is coincidental but would really like your view of the transmission risk of the encounter I describe as the fear that I could have contracted something nasty is causing me a lot of anxiety.

Thanks

Edward W. Hook M.D.

80 months ago

Welcome to our Forum. the question you ask are familiar ones. I'll address your specific questions below but I would also point out that we make past answers to clients (anonymously) so that others can learn and hopefully benefit from the information we share. After you review this response you may wish to take a look at some of our other posts for additional information.

A summary answer first. The overlap of your recent exposures and your current flu-like illness is coincidental and unrelated. Now of to expanded responses to the specific questions:

1. Received protected oral from 2x female sex workers (European)

Most commercial sex workers do not have HIV. Thus your risk of even being exposed is quite low. In addition, there are no proven cases in which HIV has been acquired from receipt of unprotected oral sex (fellatio) from an infected partner. You have the addition benefit of having worn a condom. These were no risk events

2. Performed unprotected oral sex on same 2 sex workers.

Cunnilingus is less well studied than fellatio but experts agree the it is even lower risk of STI acquisition from cunnilingus than from fellatio. Again, there are no proven cases of HIV which is acquired through performance of unprotected cunnilingus on an infected partner.

3. Received hand jobs from both women with lubricant. There may have been some of their saliva involved.

No risk at all. Mutual masturbation, irrespective of the lubricant used and irrespective of how much of a partner's genital secretions get on each other is a no risk event.

4. No penetration of my penis into either sex worker (vaginal or anal)

Thanks for the detail. Clearly no risk.

I hope these comments are helpful. You are not at risk for HIV from the exposures that you describe and I am confident that your flu-like illness is not due to HIV. No testing is needed. I hope that this response is helpful and that you will be feeling better soon. EWH

---

80 months ago

Thanks Dr H

Indeed I had been reading through some other threads but was keen for a case specific response nonetheless.

With HIV off the agenda, are there other tests you would typically recommend?

Thanks

80 months ago

Hi Docs

Just following up on the below - are there any tests that you would recommend given the encounter I described?

Many thanks

Edward W. Hook M.D.

80 months ago

Sorry, I missed your earlier question. I would suggest that to be entirely confident you did not get an STI, a throat swab for gonorrhea and urine testing for gonorrhea or chlamydia will provide the reassurance you seek. The risk of syphilis from your exposures is vanishingly low and not something I would worry about. I suspect your flu-like illness was an unfortunate co-incidence. EWH---