Member Comments are provided by individuals and reflect their personal opinions only. Under NO circumstances should you act on any advice or opinion posted in this forum. ALWAYS check with your personal physician before taking any action regarding your health! MedHelp International and our partners, sponsors and affiliates have no obligation to monitor any comments posted on this site, or the content and/or accuracy of such exchanges. MedHelp International does not endorse the views of any user.
HIV Prevention (Expert Forum)
contracted gonorrhea via oral sex on guy, possibly HIV too?
Answered by
University of Washington
Seattle - WA
This forum is limited to prevention of HIV and to safe sex in general. If you believe you might have been exposed to HIV and want help to judge your risk, would like advice about HIV testing, or have questions about the effectiveness of condoms or the risks associated with specific sexual practices, this is the site for you.
IMPORTANT
No questions will be accepted on the treatment of HIV/AIDS or its complications, viral load, and similar topics. If you have questions about a specific STD other than HIV/AIDS, please visit the STD Forum. Questions that do not pertain to the above topics will be removed from the forum.
If you have not done so, please review other threads in our archives for questions similar to yours and Dr. Handsfield's replies. Questions that duplicate other frequent ones, for which abundant replies exist, and that have little educational value for other forum users, will be DELETED WITHOUT RESPONSE. YOUR PAYMENT WILL NOT BE REFUNDED. The most common examples of such questions are those about low risk exposures to HIV, such as oral sex, condom- protected intercourse hand-to-genital exposure, and nonsexual contact with possibly infected blood or body fluids as well as symptoms of early HIV infection.
No questions will be accepted on the treatment of HIV/AIDS or its complications, viral load, and similar topics. If you have questions about a specific STD other than HIV/AIDS, please visit the STD Forum. Questions that do not pertain to the above topics will be removed from the forum.
If you have not done so, please review other threads in our archives for questions similar to yours and Dr. Handsfield's replies. Questions that duplicate other frequent ones, for which abundant replies exist, and that have little educational value for other forum users, will be DELETED WITHOUT RESPONSE. YOUR PAYMENT WILL NOT BE REFUNDED. The most common examples of such questions are those about low risk exposures to HIV, such as oral sex, condom- protected intercourse hand-to-genital exposure, and nonsexual contact with possibly infected blood or body fluids as well as symptoms of early HIV infection.
contracted gonorrhea via oral sex on guy, possibly HIV too?
by worriedguy2006, Aug 24, 2006 12:00AM
i am a guy and performed oral sex (unprotected) on a guy. he did not *** in my mouth but i am sure there was precum. we had no anal sex of any kind. we did this for about 2 hours back and forth on each other. the guy does have a steady girlfriend but not sure how many encounters he has had with other men. his last HIV test was last summer and he tested negative.
i contracted gonorrhea from him (just got the meds yesterday). i assume that i got it from his precum in my mouth. we did rub our penises together a few times.
my questions:
1-i have read many times over that gonorrhea makes the transmission of HIV very likely if the person has it. do you think that if the guy i performed unprotected oral sex on has HIV would be able to give it to me when i performed oral sex on him, since he already gave me gonorrhea? what is the possibility and likelihood? note that i did not have any STDs at the time of exposure.
2-i saw no symptoms of STDs or HIV on his body or penis area. i know this is meaningless but i just wanted to know if gonorrhea can lie dormant in an infected man (i read the msg. boards on women).
3-is my behavior (performing unprotected oral sex on him for that much time) high or low-risk?
4-i plan on taking an HIV test during the ending 4th week after exposure. how accurate in terms of percentage do you think the results will be (given the low or high risk behavior i have engaged in)?
5-do you think, from your *personal experience* of what you have seen and encountered, that him having gonorrhea makes it very likely that he probably has HIV?
7-should i go for a PCR test after 28 days?
i contracted gonorrhea from him (just got the meds yesterday). i assume that i got it from his precum in my mouth. we did rub our penises together a few times.
my questions:
1-i have read many times over that gonorrhea makes the transmission of HIV very likely if the person has it. do you think that if the guy i performed unprotected oral sex on has HIV would be able to give it to me when i performed oral sex on him, since he already gave me gonorrhea? what is the possibility and likelihood? note that i did not have any STDs at the time of exposure.
2-i saw no symptoms of STDs or HIV on his body or penis area. i know this is meaningless but i just wanted to know if gonorrhea can lie dormant in an infected man (i read the msg. boards on women).
3-is my behavior (performing unprotected oral sex on him for that much time) high or low-risk?
4-i plan on taking an HIV test during the ending 4th week after exposure. how accurate in terms of percentage do you think the results will be (given the low or high risk behavior i have engaged in)?
5-do you think, from your *personal experience* of what you have seen and encountered, that him having gonorrhea makes it very likely that he probably has HIV?
7-should i go for a PCR test after 28 days?
Doctor's Answer
by H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D., Aug 24, 2006 12:00AM
, Aug 24, 2006 12:00AM
I presume you mean you acquired gonorrhea of the throat, not urethra. But it doesn't make much difference in my responses.
1) Yes, gonorrhea and other STDs increase the probability of HIV transmission. However, the risk is low by oral sex and even a doubling still leaves pretty low risk. Some people estimate the risk of transmission by performing fellatio on an HIV infected person at 1 in 10,000. If so, your risk might have been 1 in 5000--if he was infected, which you don't know.
2) Asymptomatic urethral (penile) gonorrhea is uncommon. The odds are your partner had abnormal discharge. But it could easily be missed by a looking at someone, especially if he had urinated recently or in a dark room.
3) There is no hard definition of "low" versus "high" risk. If you have such exposures frequently with men you don't know, your at fair risk of acquring HIV someday--but nothing like the risk of a guy who has unprotected anal sex with stranger. All men having sex with other men should choose their partners wisely (no sex with guys met in bars or baths and should always ask about and share HIV status and STD symptoms, like discharge or sores. And of course condoms for anal sex. Condoms can be considered for oral sex, the risk is low enough that they can be considered optional. In summary, with oral sex your risk is very low for any particular event, but that risk of course rises with the frequency of such exposures.
4) A negative antibody test at 4 weeks will be highly reassuring (90-95% of infected people would be positive), but not as solid as waiting 6 weeks, when virtually 100% have positive results.
5) Other things being equal, persons with gonorrhea are more likely to have HIV. But there is no way to predict reliably for any particular person. If this is a guy you know or can contact, you owe it to yourself to call him and ask. Most people don't lie when asked directly.
6) Your risk isn't high enough for most specialists to recommend PCR testing. But some providers might disagree, especially if you learn your partner has HIV; or might recommend a P24 antigen test. If your partner is positive, see a health care provider familiar with STD/HIV care and follow his or her advice. (If you have PCR or P24 testing, it should be at 10-20 days after exposure, not 4 weeks. The purpose is to pick up infections before the antibody test becomes positive, which usually happens by 4 weeks.)
Bottom line: All in all, the odds you were infected during this particular event are low. But think about your long term risks. Would you play Russian roulette with a 5000-chamber gun? I wouldn't.
Good luck-- HHH, MD
1) Yes, gonorrhea and other STDs increase the probability of HIV transmission. However, the risk is low by oral sex and even a doubling still leaves pretty low risk. Some people estimate the risk of transmission by performing fellatio on an HIV infected person at 1 in 10,000. If so, your risk might have been 1 in 5000--if he was infected, which you don't know.
2) Asymptomatic urethral (penile) gonorrhea is uncommon. The odds are your partner had abnormal discharge. But it could easily be missed by a looking at someone, especially if he had urinated recently or in a dark room.
3) There is no hard definition of "low" versus "high" risk. If you have such exposures frequently with men you don't know, your at fair risk of acquring HIV someday--but nothing like the risk of a guy who has unprotected anal sex with stranger. All men having sex with other men should choose their partners wisely (no sex with guys met in bars or baths and should always ask about and share HIV status and STD symptoms, like discharge or sores. And of course condoms for anal sex. Condoms can be considered for oral sex, the risk is low enough that they can be considered optional. In summary, with oral sex your risk is very low for any particular event, but that risk of course rises with the frequency of such exposures.
4) A negative antibody test at 4 weeks will be highly reassuring (90-95% of infected people would be positive), but not as solid as waiting 6 weeks, when virtually 100% have positive results.
5) Other things being equal, persons with gonorrhea are more likely to have HIV. But there is no way to predict reliably for any particular person. If this is a guy you know or can contact, you owe it to yourself to call him and ask. Most people don't lie when asked directly.
6) Your risk isn't high enough for most specialists to recommend PCR testing. But some providers might disagree, especially if you learn your partner has HIV; or might recommend a P24 antigen test. If your partner is positive, see a health care provider familiar with STD/HIV care and follow his or her advice. (If you have PCR or P24 testing, it should be at 10-20 days after exposure, not 4 weeks. The purpose is to pick up infections before the antibody test becomes positive, which usually happens by 4 weeks.)
Bottom line: All in all, the odds you were infected during this particular event are low. But think about your long term risks. Would you play Russian roulette with a 5000-chamber gun? I wouldn't.
Good luck-- HHH, MD
2-you are right. it was a dark room and i must have surely missed the penile discharge.
3-this was my first encounter with a bisexual man
5-i did ask him about his HIV status before doing anything and he said that he was perfectly clean. i am not sure if he knew if he had gonorrhea. he said he had no STDs or HIV.
Sorry, I missed your opening comment where you said you asked about his HIV status before the encounter. As I said, most people don't lie about HIV status when asked directly, so HIV isn't likely to be an issue for you.
HHH, MD
i am assuming that i got it from him. before him, i did perform oral sex unprotected on a woman about 10 days before him. i also rimmed her and put my tongue inside her ***hole till she came. she told me she was clean and i was completely sure. i don't know. maybe she did have it and was asymptomatic.
anyhow, i want to thank you for taking the time to look into my personal situation and answer my questions to the best of your medical knowledge and experience. we appreciate the work that you do.
SS68: In theory you may be right. However, simultaneous acquisition of STD and HIV clearly can occur--in fact, the herpes association suggest a big part of the HIV enhancement comes from simultaneous acquisition of both HSV and HIV. But I don't think this has been studied for gonorrhea or other STDs.
HHH, MD