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Concerning experience with transgendered escort

Hey thank you all for the work that you do in these forums!
The other day I foolishly decided to pay a street escort from the Caribbean who was transgendered which both very high risk. For these and a number of other reasons I have reason to believe she is HIV positive.
We did not have any anal sex either way so the only possible exposure was oral/BJ which I performed on her until she came. I spat most of it out but I think some remained in my mouth for a while. I have read on this forum that giving oral is no risk but I’ve also seen the figure 10,000 to 1 quoted in various threads on here from experts.
Is this figure outdated? It seems very high considering that most people who reply recently say there is absolutely no risk, I imagine there are well over 10,000 BJs on infected people performed every day so this would suggest there’s at least one oral infection a day.
I also had bleeding gums at the time which is a potential point of entry - but everyone says that this doesn’t matter?
Does it make any difference that remnants of the sperm remained in the mouth for some hours afterwards?
Thank you.
4 Responses
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3191940 tn?1447268717
COMMUNITY LEADER
First of all, being transgendered does NOT make someone "high risk" for HIV.  Sex and gender orientation have nothing to do with HIV - risk is about sexual behaviors, not identity or orientation.

Second, the risk estimates from oral sex are theoretical, and no evidence shows that people are infected from oral sex daily.   KNOWN, proven risks are having unprotected anal or vaginal sex, and sharing intravenous needles.  If you stay away from both of those activities, you will never have to worry about HIV.

You didn't have a risk and there's no reason for you to test.
Helpful - 0
2 Comments
I apologize for how that came across. My intention wasn’t to generalize but just to say that statistically I’ve read that transgendered women and people of African descent have higher rates of HIV. This and because she is an escort I made the assumption that she is high risk. However she had insisted that had we done anal, which we didn’t, we would have to wear a condom.
Thank you for your reassuring response. You say that there has no evidence of daily oral infections, but is it also true that there are no proven/documented cases of oral transmission? I keep reading stories where people claim that they contracted HIV when their only exposure was oral which confuses/worries me (as well as older posts from doctors on here saying it is a risk - are they being conservative?).
Apologies, I will not bother you after this post other than to post an update if I decide to test (for my peace of mind).
No one is going to say never, ever, could it happen, just as no one is going to say that you will never, ever win the lottery.  You will note also that the doctors who posted here previously didn't recommend testing after an oral event.  

Regarding stories on the internet - you can also find accounts of alien abductions and claims that the government is using chemicals to turn the frogs gay.  Doesn't mean it happened.

Here is a robust study of serodiscordant couples and oral sex that supports the unlikelihood of contracting HIV via oral sex: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12045500

If you wish to concern yourself over an astronomically low possibility of infection, that is your choice.
188761 tn?1584567620
COMMUNITY LEADER
You have already received a thorough insight and apt reasoning to your misconceptions.

Ingesting infected fluid can't enable transmission of HIV because this virus needs a suitable host for replication. Transmission only occurs through direct exposure with the nervous system under specific conditions.

When one ingests infected fluid, the saliva and the gastric juices in the stomach inhibits the virus. Therefore, a direct contact with the digestive system is not effective at transmission of this virus.

You were never at risk and don't need to test.
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
Hi Mike. Thank you for your response. I’ve been trying to move on with my life but I’m finding it very difficult (I’m now two weeks post “exposure”, when symptoms are supposed to surface).
I know you say “never at risk”, but I came across this from Dr Sean Cummins:

https://www.medhelp.org/posts/HIV---International/had-an-oral-sex-and-I-am-worried/show/2014087

Here he says there is a 5000/1 risk if there was ejaculation in the mouth, which there was. I’ve seen a few other posts from him saying that he has seen patients who have been infected through oral sex. Is this now outdated? It appears the doctors on this site always said there was a risk during this time, but recently I’ve just seen very strong statements saying it’s absolutely no risk. I know you guys are far more knowledgeable than me on this subject so I just wanted to find out if this is still the case or not. Thank you.
188761 tn?1584567620
COMMUNITY LEADER
In medicine there is nothing called 100%. Most doctors would state '99.8%' for such situation. However, there are some doctors who would step aside from their medical text book notions and state things from practical context. Dr. HHH and many other leading HIV researchers / specialists have believed it not to be a risk and clearly stated so.

If that minute fraction of risk makes you worried about contracting HIV, you should rather be worried about dying of falling off your chair right now while reading this because the likelihood that happening is higher than you contracting HIV from your event.

See a therapist if you are unable to move on from this fear. You don't have HIV.
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
Thanks Mike for the reassurance. I do take your point and understand that doctors and publications generally err on the side of caution and take a more conservative standpoint. I will do my best to move forward with my life, and won’t comment again other than to post any results should I decide to get tested (being for my peace of mind).
Avatar universal
Hello all. Thanks for your words and reassurance on this. For the sake of my mental health I went and got tested, results came back negative. Thought I'd post an update for the sake of any worried wells lurking.
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
At this point in time, I would avoid encounters with people you don't live with because of the likely 100% risk to you contracting or spreading Covid (if one of you was positive) in which case you might also spread it to your loved ones.
Since neither of you were social distancing, I hope you check out this forum for information on why you should be today. https://www.medhelp.org/forums/Coronavirus/show/2203
Your health is your wealth, so I hope you remain healthy to be able to enjoy life. Many infected Covid patients including young people are under the misunderstanding that they have zero risk from Covid, but will discover that not all of them will be spared permanent lung and related heart issues in which case they have lost that wealth.
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