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Oral Sex Question
Hello Doctor,
I recently had unprotected oral sex with a 25 year old man (I am a 26 year old white female). I performed oral sex on him for about 10 minutes and he did *** in my mouth although I did not swallow. I really have no reason to believe this man had HIV or anything although I am not certain. He is white, heterosexual, and non-IV drug user, but I have a feeling he has had many sexual partners. I'll get to my specific questions now.
1. What are the chances that I could have caught HIV or any other STD from this exposure?
2. In regards to genital herpes, if he did have HSV-2, could I contract HSV-1 from performing oral sex on him?
3. Do you think I need HIV/STD testing from this exposure? I was recently tested and all came back negative. Should I get tested again after this?
Thank you
I recently had unprotected oral sex with a 25 year old man (I am a 26 year old white female). I performed oral sex on him for about 10 minutes and he did *** in my mouth although I did not swallow. I really have no reason to believe this man had HIV or anything although I am not certain. He is white, heterosexual, and non-IV drug user, but I have a feeling he has had many sexual partners. I'll get to my specific questions now.
1. What are the chances that I could have caught HIV or any other STD from this exposure?
2. In regards to genital herpes, if he did have HSV-2, could I contract HSV-1 from performing oral sex on him?
3. Do you think I need HIV/STD testing from this exposure? I was recently tested and all came back negative. Should I get tested again after this?
Thank you
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
In general, oral sex is safe sex. It isn't completely risk-free with respect to STDs and HIV, but much safer than vaginal or anal sex. To the specific questions:
1) CDC has calculated the average risk of acquiring HIV from performing fellatio on an HIV infected man as once per 10,000 exposures (equivalent to giving a ** to an infected man once a day fror 27 years). If you assume a 1 in 1,000 chance your partner had HIV, then your risk calculates at 1 in 10 million. In other words, forget it. However, the chance your partner had an STD is much higher than for HIV and the transmission risks are greater, and there was some small risk for gonorrhea, syphilis, or herpes (but not chlamydia, which rarely infects the mouth or throat). You don't provide enough information about your partner for me to even guess at the risk he might have had a transmissible STD -- what country (or what part of the US) you are in, drug use, bisexuality, social class, education, history of incarceration, race, when and how you met (e.g., bar pick-up?), and similar factors make big differences.
2) You are confused about HSV-1 and -2. The numbers refer to the virus, not the disease -- i.e., HSV-1 does not mean oral herpes and HSV-2 does not mean genital. Either virus can infect either part of the body. If your partner had genital HSV-2 that was active at the time you performed oral on him, you could have been infected. However, this is rare; HSV-2 doesn't infect the mouth very readily, and oral herpes due to HSV-2 is rare. Your risk here is low.
3) You definitely don't need HIV testing after such an encounter; the risk of infection was too low. For other STDs there is no definitive answer. For any single exposure, the risks are low, but they aren't zero. To be maximally safe, you might return to your provider for a test for oral gonorrhea, and perhaps a syphilis blood test (after a few weeks). A local health care provider, who understands trends in STD in your local area, could advise you better about this than I can.
I hope this helps. Best wishes-- HHH, MD
1) CDC has calculated the average risk of acquiring HIV from performing fellatio on an HIV infected man as once per 10,000 exposures (equivalent to giving a ** to an infected man once a day fror 27 years). If you assume a 1 in 1,000 chance your partner had HIV, then your risk calculates at 1 in 10 million. In other words, forget it. However, the chance your partner had an STD is much higher than for HIV and the transmission risks are greater, and there was some small risk for gonorrhea, syphilis, or herpes (but not chlamydia, which rarely infects the mouth or throat). You don't provide enough information about your partner for me to even guess at the risk he might have had a transmissible STD -- what country (or what part of the US) you are in, drug use, bisexuality, social class, education, history of incarceration, race, when and how you met (e.g., bar pick-up?), and similar factors make big differences.
2) You are confused about HSV-1 and -2. The numbers refer to the virus, not the disease -- i.e., HSV-1 does not mean oral herpes and HSV-2 does not mean genital. Either virus can infect either part of the body. If your partner had genital HSV-2 that was active at the time you performed oral on him, you could have been infected. However, this is rare; HSV-2 doesn't infect the mouth very readily, and oral herpes due to HSV-2 is rare. Your risk here is low.
3) You definitely don't need HIV testing after such an encounter; the risk of infection was too low. For other STDs there is no definitive answer. For any single exposure, the risks are low, but they aren't zero. To be maximally safe, you might return to your provider for a test for oral gonorrhea, and perhaps a syphilis blood test (after a few weeks). A local health care provider, who understands trends in STD in your local area, could advise you better about this than I can.
I hope this helps. Best wishes-- HHH, MD
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Sounds like a low risk partern. No appreciable hepatitis B risk, and hep C isn't sexually transmitted anyway (despite mistaken information from some sources).
Thanks for your answer Doctor,
Just a quick follow-up...my partner was a white, heterosexual male (non bisexual, non-IV drug user), has never been in prison, and is from East Tennessee. I met him at work. Also, what about my risks in regards to Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C infection? Any risk for this STD by performing oral sex? Thanks again
Just a quick follow-up...my partner was a white, heterosexual male (non bisexual, non-IV drug user), has never been in prison, and is from East Tennessee. I met him at work. Also, what about my risks in regards to Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C infection? Any risk for this STD by performing oral sex? Thanks again
You are reading content posted in the STDs Forum
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Millions of people are diagnosed with STDs in the U.S. each year.
STDs can't be transmitted by casual contact, like hugging or touching.
Syphilis is an STD that is transmitted by oral, genital and anal sex.
