somene tell me this study is flawed...

[lau25]

according to most of the responses on this site oral sex is low risk.  i originally went on this site because i was bugged out about possibly touching the blood of on hiv + patient of mine...however am now starting to be freaked out about oral sex 4 months ago....receiving, not giving...on 2 occasions w/ 2 guys for 1-2 minutes each without protection....for some reason i feel like i need to share details.  everywhere i look i see the risk is minimal...but then i see this. on the cdc website.

http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/oralsexqa.htm

8/102 men in exclusive oral sex relationships became hiv +, 4/8 had gum bleeds.....what about the other 4?   sorry, i know everyone else on this site is worried like i am, but i don;t understand why the risk is considered low but there is info like this???
maybe i will pay to ask the doctor tomorrow...

[lau25]

not true. i used to counsel pregnant teens regarding safe sex practices before i went back for my second degree.  i did it for 9 months and was very good at it. plan on becoming a school nurse, based on which age group i work with, sex ed would would likely fall into my realm of practice.

[lau25]

i called both guys, and both have been tested and are neg. one of them actually got tested because my hypochondria motivated him to! the other guy was because he is going into the military. neither of them told me I was crazy, just both reassuring. i guess I could have made those calls a month ago, and not 30 minutes before I'm supposed to get these results. anyways, the only thing i really have left to worry about is my fear of first time freak occurance. i feel bad for people who are really at risk for this, when i become so self absorbed in my own basically imaginary crisis. I think the root of my fear is the fact that I was sexually irresponsible in my teens/early 20's that i feel this overwhelming guilt. I'll tell you what though, I plan on doing community/preventative health education for children and teens, and hopefully I'll eventually make a difference when it comes sex ed.  

[lau25]

thanks for your reassurance guys, i know i'm overreacting, and I apprecaite you all giving me the time of day

[lau25]

i'm a nursing student

[ExtremeStress]

These that were infected appear to be giving, because they mentioned 7 of 8 came into contact with pre-seminal fluid, and 3 of 8 had bleeding gum problems. Also this test was done over 4 years ago with the use of 102 people. Key word "People". People that can lie, forget, or don't care. Relax and get tested, You are a doctor right. You did say HIV+ patient of mine. Although you seem to not have knowledge about HIV and worry a little to much about it (for this to be your career).

[regularjoey]

I read a few studies on oral sex and they are all seriously flawed, in my opinion.  It is probably impossible to perform an unbiased clinical study on oral sex, it will never be done.

So we just have to live with the information that we do have: it is extremely extremely unusual to acquire HIV by giving oral sex and it possibly never happens if you receive oral sex.  I would say you have nothing to worry about.

[guiltnworry]

It's ok!  Relax, you don't "environmentally" pick up HIV.  Don't be overly paranoid or eventually you will lock yourself in the house like a bubble and be afraid to do anything.  That's no way to be and no way to live!  You would know if you "inadvertently" came into contact with her infected blood.  You said you didn't have unprotected sex with her, therefore the risk is very very very...low that you contracted HIV from her.  The odds are also in your favor that your guy friends don't have it, unless they are IV drug users, gay men, etc.  Go get tested and be very happy with your negative result!!

[lau25]

i don't know that the guys are negative. i was saying they probably are...which is less scary than  than the woman who definately is positive. i was worried cause i picked up a cup she had used with blood on it, and wasn't worried about that incident cause i'm pretty sure i didn't touch the blood, but thought maybe there were other instances that i had environmentally came in contact with blood and had not realized it.  i realize i'm overreacting and i'm sorry if i'm being annoying.

[guiltnworry]

Exactly.  You have to read the fine print in those types of studies.  The fact is that they do not really know, nor can they guarantee that the men were only performing oral.  It is highly unlikely and most experts will agree that there is little or no oral transmission.  Theoretically, it is possible if you perform oral sex on someone with big, gaping, bleeding sores in your mouth (and i mean really bleeding, not just red), but then, why would you be doing anything sexual with things like that in your mouth.  

I would bet a lot that you are completely fine!  Relax

[lau25]

also it says 4/8 of the men infected had receptive/protected anal sex, so i guess the relationships weren't 100% oral, and i guess if you're in a relationship and doing it every day the chances of transmission increase.  at one point it says these men were "probably" infected this way. hmm.

[guiltnworry]

I read that study and it is unlikely that the men in the study were 100% truthful in saying that they limited their relations to only oral sex.  Many of these studies provide compensation, so participants tailor their answers to what they think the researchers want.  Few people will admit to having unprotected anal sex because they are aware of the stigma surrounding it.  Studies like this have been done before, but I believe it was Dr. HHH who said that the CDC itself has only documented one case from oral exposure, and even that wasn't definitive.  

Regarding your risk, if you only had casual contact with the HIV+ woman, how would you ever have gotten HIV?  You cannot get it from holding hands, kissing, etc.  If the guys are negative, then there is also NO WAY you could have gotten HIV from them, since they don't have it.  

Relax and best of luck!  

[lau25]

again...i want to repeat, i realize that many people have experienced some sort of exposure and i really don;t want to make anyone more upset than they already are and reading this now won't change things i've already done. so i really apologie if i've brought twisted facts to this message board, i just want someone to look at this and tell me that it's twisted. i panicked.  i'm just trying to figure out am i at greater risk from the casual contact with the hiv+ woman or the 2 likely neg. guys i hooked up with.