Cunnilingus Exposure

[sammen]

Dear Doc,

I am sorry to be back again. Apologies for that. I have a question related to cunnilingus where i performed on  a woman. I have been reading previous posts stating that the risk for HIVis very low or even close to zero. I have recently seen some of your answers on the forum where you mention the risk is low and you never state as you used to do previously that the some experts believe oral sex to be zero risk and you agree to that.
Has there been any changes in the stance for cunnilingus or giving oral that it considered a risk.
Would you recommend HIv test for that as after my previous posts I had tested for hiv and was negative. And this has been my only unprotected exposure alongwith protectes sex. Just the one time.

Even the autralian aids federation site states licking or sucking vagina is safe with regards to HIV.

Sorry again and thank you in advance for any response. Would appreciate your reply.

Thanks

Sam

[Harbingertaurus]

mmm this  is kind of confusing somehow  by i think cunnilingus  carries no risk  and just  fellation will be  potential risk isnt  it ?

[Popeye_sailor]

Hello Doc. Sorry to jump in but I thought it was an important observation. The CDC seems to have changed it's stance about a week ago. They now say the only risky oral sex act is receptive fellatio and all others carry no risk. They also no longer quote the 1/10000 figure, but just say low and extremely difficult to determine. Again, sorry to jump in.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Yes, I meant to say for you not to worry.

EWH

[sammen]

Just clarifying your last statement. Did you mean not to worry. Thank you very much for your positive response.
I have always appreciated the way you all respond, which is clear and to the point.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

I have never seen anyne who acquired HIV from cunnilingus.  Again, I urge you to to worry.  EWH

[sammen]

Thank you very much for your reply. My main concern for the cunnilingus exposure is due to gum problem. I did not brush my teeth before or after that incident but i do have bleeding gums from time to time while brushing. And I have read that these could be cause for hiv while performing oral.

Also i had read replies from Dr Jose stating that to get hiv from cunnilingus you need to be exposed to loads of blood and there should be fresh open wound for an entry point... Is that  true for HIV from cunnilingus. and have you personally come across someone infdcted this way..... thank you heaps again

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome back.  Knowledge about HIV and how it is transmitted is being continually updated and as it does, our responses on this site change to reflect the new knowledge.  I used to say that there is no risk for acquisition of HIV following oral sex of any sort.  I no longer make quite so strong a statement.  There are a few reported cases in which HIV MAY have been acquired as the result of performing (not receiving) oral sex as fellatio and there MAY be one or two cases which were acquired through performance of oral sex as cunnilingus on an infected person.  Given the millions and millions of times that oral sex has been performed on infected persons however, these few cases are proof of the rarity of this event and validate the estimates that performance of oral sex on an infected partner leads to infection no more than, on average, 1 in 10,000 instances of oral sex (just to put that in perspective, that is like performing oral sex on an infected partner once a day for over 27 years).  There are still no cases that I am aware of in which HIV has been proven to be acquired through receipt of oral sex.

Thus, for you, despite this small change in the statistics, I really see no reason for concern related to your prior posts, particularly since most, if not all exposures occurred in licensed brothels where you can be confident that your partners had been relatively recently tested and found to be HIV negative.

I hope this comment is helpful to you. EWH