Encounter with South African escort - risk assement?

[outofmind96]

Hello, last week I met a white female escort in the UK who was originally from South Africa,im hetrosexual male, she performed protected oral + handjob but no penetrative sex. Im worried about the risk of hiv for the following reasons ;
- hiv is more prevelant in South Africa
- i touched her crotch area but she was wearing nickers but i did not touch her vagina, but i then touched my penis with same hand
- she told me that she was late for appointment because she was at dentist but she stressed she had no work done
could i have contracted HIV thru the protected oral sex or through her kissing me following a dental appointment ie if she had some blood in her mouth ?
one thing though was that she was very focused on cleanliness and made me use mouthwash before the kissing, she used the same bottle too
can you advise if i need to test , my doctor and GUM clinic say No, they say no risk just move on..

[Edward W Hook, MD]

I agree with the doctor at the GUM Clinic.  HIV is not passed via masturbation (hand to genital contact) which is in fact considered safe sex.  There has never been a case of HIV transmitted in this way.  As for oral sex, the risk of getting HIV from receipt of oral sex is thought to be less than 1 in 10,000 which, in my estimation, may well be and underestimate of just how rare this is.  Finally, you do not know that your partner was HIV infected - odds are that she was not, even though she was from South Africa where HIV is relatively common.  In South Africa, HIV is most common among blacks who are commercial sex workers working among poorer clients.  You say your partner was white and I'm guessing if she was a sex worker in SA, her clients were not necessarily among lower economic classes.  Putting all of this together, I would ***** your risk as being very low.

Having said this, now to address whether you need testing.  From the exposure you describe, not particularly.  On the other hand. if you have multiple partners you are among the group for whom we recommend periodic STD and HIV "screening (testing in the absence of symptoms) because you have had multiple partners over a period of less than a year.  As a matter of personal protection, we recommend annual testing for anyone who has had two or more sex partners in the past year (we consider this to be health maintenance- we also recommend you get your blood pressure and cholesterol checked regularly).

Hope this is helpful.  EWH

[outofmind96]

Thank you this is helpfull.
I am in a married relationship, but did have sex once with an escort back in Jan of this year, and my HIV was negative after 14 weeks as were the STD Test, since then this was the only sexual contact i have ever had. One question, the local GUM and doctor said testing is not needed because the oral was protected and only lasted for no more than 3 mins.
So based on that do you think i can now forget about the need for testing and resume normal sexual relations with my wife ?. I just want to be confident that I can drwa a line under this and move on ( which everyone keeps telling me)..
p.s i am seeing a sex consellar to address my need to abstain form this behaviouf

[Edward W Hook, MD]

yes, I would feel confident in suggesting you can resume sex woith your wife without worry from the expsoure you describe.  eWH

[outofmind96]

thank you , have a great weekend. cheers

[outofmind96]

I woudl like to ask one more question as Im begining to get anxious about some developments this week. I have started to get blotchy/itchy rashes appear on  my shoulder and in parts of my chest with some little red spots appearing on the front of my tongue. I know that ARS symptoms show after 2 weeks, even though i recieved protected oral could this be the starting sign of ARS/HIV infection ?..im going to see y doctor today but im starting to panic..can either of you comment ..thank you

[Edward W Hook, MD]

You have seemed to missed our repeated statements that the symptoms of the ARS are TOTALLY non-specific and when people experience "ARS symptoms" they are much more likely to have something else, usually some other, more typical virus infection.  When this has been studied in the US, less than 1% of persons seeking medical care for "ARS symptoms" are found to have HIV, the remainder having symptoms due to other processes.  In addition, it is also important to realize that many person who acquire HIV do not experience the ARS.  For a person to try to judge their HIV risk based on "ARS symptoms" is a waste of time.  EWH