I'm still worried

[Billyboi]

Ok so I recently posted a question about HIV risk of M2M oral sex and him ejaculating onto my chapped lips. People have told me that there is a very very low risk with that. However, what if there were some signs of bleeding or maybe a pimple that had been scratched/burst due to his stubble during our make-out session just before, and semen getting into contact with the open pimple. Can I be HIV positive? I am worried because about 2 weeks after this encounter, I remember getting a very sore throat for about a week or so and also a persistent cough. This cough lasted about a week or two also but changed from a productive one to a dry one and then back to a productive one. It was probably the sickest ive been in a while. Please help me and ease my worries.

[LIZZIE LOU]

you have been assessed as not being at risk for hiv.

kindly move on...you do not have a hiv concern

[Teak]

Then come back and post your negative result.

[Billyboi]

Ohok Thank you all for the responses it has helped relieved some worry. but I believe it probably is best for me to get tested since it is clearly bothering me to a great extent.

[lacti]

I think some of the views on the possibility of transmission through oral sex in this forum are dogmatic.

I have read extensively and formed a balanced view. I have read all the stuff you have posted and many more.

My view on this is the risk is infinitessimal but not zero. The poster can also form a balanced view on all the information provided.

[Teak]

The poster was advised correctly before you came and gave incorrect information.

[LIZZIE LOU]

THERE ARE NO DOCUMENTED / VERIFIED CASES OF HIV BEING TRANSMITTED THROUGH ORAL SEX.  THERE ARE, HOWEVER, CASE STUDIES PROVING THAT TRANSMISSION DID NOT OCCUR FROM ORAL SEX.

PPL WILL LIE ABOUT THEIR EXPOSURES.  SO WHO DO YOU BELIEVE?  SOMEONE REPORTING THEY GOT HIV THROUGH ORAL SEX OR CONTROLLED STUDIES?

IF I WAS A MARRIED MAN...HAD CHEATED OUTSIDE MY MARRIAGE WITH "ANOTHER MAN" AND CONTRACTED HIV...WOULD I TELL THE WORLD I LET ANTOHER MAN POKE ME WHERE THE SUN DONT SHINE OR TELL THEM IT WAS "JUST" ORAL SEX?

There is no debate (among experts) about the HIV risks associated with oral sex.  The risk is so low that almost nobody who cares for HIV infected patients has ever had a patient believed to have been infected that way.  Among experts, it's a semantic issue about using terms like "no risk" and "very low risk".  There is no difference between my or Dr. Hook's use of "low risk" and other experts' "no risk".
DR. HANSFIELD

"And oral sex is basically safe sex -- completely safe with respect to HIV and although not zero risk for other STDs, the chance of infection is far lower than for unprotected vaginal or anal sex.  Please educate yourself about the real risks.  If you stick with oral sex and condom-protected vaginal or anal sex, you have no HIV worries and very little worry about other STDs. "   DR HANSFIELD

"I am sure you can find lots of people who belive that HIV is transmitted by oral sex, but you will not find scientific data to support this unrealistic concern..."   DR HOOK

"HIV is not spread by touching, masturbation, oral sex or condom protected sex."- DR. HOOK

in the public HIV Prevention forum of MedHelp, TEAK and the other moderators maintain that oral sex in all forms is a zero risk activity. Would you agree with this assessment?  
I TOTALLY AGREE / DR GARCIA

[lacti]

I disagree

http://www.avert.org/oral-sex.htm

just for starters

[Teak]

HIV is unable to reproduce outside its living host (unlike many bacteria or fungi, which may do so under suitable conditions), except under laboratory conditions, therefore, it does not spread or maintain infectiousness outside its host.

[lacti]

Some members have not exhausted the knowledge available on this subject. The poster has asked a very pertinent follow up question.

[Teak]

No incident HIV infections among MSM who practice exclusively oral sex.
Int Conf AIDS 2004 Jul 11-16; 15:(abstract no. WePpC2072)??Balls JE, Evans JL, Dilley J, Osmond D, Shiboski S, Shiboski C, Klausner J, McFarland W, Greenspan D, Page-Shafer K?University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States

Oral transmission of HIV, reality or fiction? An update
J Campo1, MA Perea1, J del Romero2, J Cano1, V Hernando2, A Bascones1
Oral Diseases (2006) 12, 219–228

AIDS:  Volume 16(17)  22 November 2002  pp 2350-2352
Risk of HIV infection attributable to oral sex among men who have sex with men and in the population of men who have sex with men

Page-Shafer, Kimberlya,b; Shiboski, Caroline Hb; Osmond, Dennis Hc; Dilley, Jamesd; McFarland, Willie; Shiboski, Steve Cc; Klausner, Jeffrey De; Balls, Joycea; Greenspan, Deborahb; Greenspan

Page-Shafer K, Veugelers PJ, Moss AR, Strathdee S, Kaldor JM, van Griensven GJ. Sexual risk behavior and risk factors for HIV-1 seroconversion in homosexual men participating in the Tricontinental Seroconverter Study, 1982-1994 [published erratum appears in Am J Epidemiol 1997 15 Dec; 146(12):1076]. Am J Epidemiol 1997, 146:531-542.

Studies which show the fallacy of relying on anecdotal evidence as opposed to carefully controlled study insofar as HIV transmission risk is concerned:

Jenicek M. "Clinical Case Reporting" in Evidence-Based Medicine. Oxford: Butterworth–Heinemann; 1999:117

Saltzman SP, Stoddard AM, McCusker J, Moon MW, Mayer KH. Reliability of self-reported sexual behavior risk factors for HIV infection in homosexual men. Public Health Rep. 1987 102(6):692–697.Nov–Dec;

Catania JA, Gibson DR, Chitwood DD, Coates TJ. Methodological problems in AIDS behavioral research: influences on measurement error and participation bias in studies of sexual behavior. Psychol Bull. 1990 Nov;108(3):339–362.

[Teak]

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/HIV-Prevention/rapid-hiv-duo-test-neg-at-8-weeks-how-accurate/show/1234375?personal_page_id=348931#post_5653166

[Billyboi]

But I've read in several other sources that oral sex can be a form of HIV transmission, especially if the semen comes into contact with open sores, ulcers or cuts etc. although they did say that the risk is quite low and only a few cases of this has happened

[LIZZIE LOU]

we are not here to state our "opinions" or "positions".  FACTS ARE FACTS.

[Teak]

The deal here is Oral Sex is not a manner inwhich HIV is transmitted.

[Billyboi]

Ok thank you i feel a bit more reassured, but I think I will still go for a HIV test first thing in the morning.

[lacti]

The key here is that the risk is infinitesimal. This is a very contentious issue on this forum amongst members and the experts, but my position on it is as I have set out.

[Teak]

At no time were you ever at risk of contracting HIV from oral sex. HIV is not transmitted in that manner.

[LIZZIE LOU]

you were NEVER at risk from what you are describing.  oral sex does NOT transmit hiv...even with the "what ifs" you are asking about.

[lacti]

Sorry for misleading you on this, rewinding

I meant there has been very few reported cases of tranmission through oral sex from what I have read, but the risk is truly  infinitesimally. But I try not to believe everything I read though.

[Billyboi]

But if there was semen-blood contact through either the cracked lips or the bleeding pimple, and the guy was HIV positive, wouldnt that mean there was an exchange of bodily fluids and that I would have HIV?

[lacti]

There has been no known reported case of HIV being transmitted through oral sex. Your risk was truly infinitesimal so do not worry about it. Your symptoms are not linked to HIV.