The chances of transmitting HIV through oral sex are very low. It is also possible to take further preventive measures, such as using a condom. HIV is a virus that spreads through bodily fluids. A person can contract HIV through direct contact with infected fluids or sharing syringes with someone who has the virus.
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Is Abstinence an Effective Way to Prevent HIV?
Many people find oral sex an intensely pleasurable experience. People use different terms to refer to oral sex including formal terms like fellatio and cunnilingus and slang terms like blow jobs and giving head. Usually oral sex means one person kissing, licking or sucking another person's genitals. Doctors and researchers can't be sure how many people have acquired HIV through oral sex. In late , researchers looked at all the available evidence and calculated that the risk of acquiring HIV from oral sex was very low, but that it wasn't zero.
Risk of HIV
The virus is transmitted between partners when the fluids of one person come into contact with the blood stream of another person. This contact can occur from a cut or broken skin, or through the tissues of the vagina, rectum, foreskin, or the opening of the penis. Oral sex ranks very low on the list of ways HIV can be transmitted. However, the risk of contracting HIV through oral sex is not zero. The truth is, you can in theory still contract HIV this way. It may be difficult to know where the transmission occurred. There are no documented cases of HIV being transmitted between partners through cunnilingus oral-vaginal sex. In fact, the lifetime risk of transmitting HIV during rimming is less than one percent for mixed-status couples. You can take measures to reduce your risk even further. An undetectable viral load makes transmission nearly impossible.
Back to Sexual health. HIV is transmitted through seminal and vaginal fluids, including menstrual fluids. The virus can enter the body through the bloodstream or by passing through delicate mucous membranes, such as inside the vagina, rectum or urethra. If a person gives fellatio and has bleeding gums, a cut, or an ulcer inside their mouth, HIV could enter their bloodstream through infected fluid. This could also happen if infected fluid from a woman gets into the mouth of her partner during oral sex.
