Oral sex hiv transmission

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. It is clear that oral sex involves much less risk than anal or vaginal sex. HIV is most easily passed on during anal sex, vaginal sex, sharing injecting equipment, and from mother to baby.

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. It is clear that oral sex involves much less risk than anal or vaginal sex.

However, there are many things that prospective parents can do to reduce the risk. If you or your partner have HIV, then it is best to discuss these options with your HIV specialist before you conceive. The main method of transmitting HIV from a parent to a child is through mother to child transmission during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding.

HIV infects humans and causes damage by taking over cells in the immune system—the part of the body that usually works to fight off germs, bacteria and disease. When that happens, the body may not be able to fight off certain types of illnesses or cancers. If the infection is not detected and treated, the immune system gradually weakens and AIDS develops.