Your risk of acquiring HIV by oral exposure to guys' penises is low, with or without ejaculation. But it isn't zero, and you are right that exposure when you have an oral ulcer probably raises the risk. But if you double a teensy risk, the actual chance of infection remains teensy. And presumably you don't have any particular suspicion that your partners are HIV positive; obviously the risk is higher if the guy is bisexual, an injection drug user, etc. Presumably the risk of disease is slightly (but only slightly) higher if there is overt exposure to semen.
Most ulcers inside the mouth are canker sores which, as far as we know, aren't due to an infection and can't be transmitted. Still, you should avoid oral sex when you have such lesions. My concern is less for your health than your partner's: if your oral lesion actually were herpes or syphilis, you put him at risk.
So yes, you're probably over-reacting a little bit. On balance, remember that oral sex indeed is safer than genital intercourse, both respect to STD/HIV risk and, of course, pregnancy.
Hi Dr,
OK..I had an oraquick test done at 30 days past exposure. It was negative. I am still concerned, though. Are the Oraquicks conclusive after 6 weeks, or do I need to wait longer? I got tested at GayCityHealth project & they said the window period was 3months. The CDC says it was 6 months when I called them a few days ago. I'm confused.
Gwen
Thank you,
I know that the mouth ulcer was because I bit my lip the day before...not because of Herpes or Syphilis. I freaked out & we both got tested for HIV 1 & 2 a few days later. Both test results were negative, so that is probably an extremely low risk , right?
Do you feel that a negative test result 1 month after an oral sex incident with a heterosexual, non IV-drug using male should be considered conclusive? Or should I keep testing out to 6 months?
Also, does it take a substantial amount of fluid to transmit the virus, or is it just a teensy bit??
Gwen
There are no data on "amount of [infected] fluid" that changes the risk of HIV infection. It makes sense, but no data exist.
See many other threads about timing of HIV tests. Over 90% of HIV infected persons will develop a positive test within 4 weeks. Since your risk of HIV from the exposures you describe probably is no higher than 1 in 100,000, a negative result at 4 weeks will make your odds of having HIV around 1 in a million. If you want even greater reassurance than that, get tested at 3 months as well. No matter what, 6 months isn't necessary.
HHH, MD