Safe Sex ?

[nicole_girrl]

There is some risk involved in having unprotected oral sex with a man or even a woman. It is not as risky as unprotected anal or vaginal sex, but it is still possible to get HIV this way. There have been a few documented cases where HIV has been transmitted this way. HIV is found in blood, semen, vaginal fluids and breast milk. The virus can transmitted through cuts, openings, sores, and mucous membranes (mouth, anus) on your body.

In addition to HIV, other STDs can be transmitted through oral sex with an infected partner, such as herpes, syphilis, gonorrhea, genital warts (HPV), intestinal parasites (amebiasis), and hepatitis A.

The best rule-of-thumb is to always protect yourself (use a condom). If you develop a relationship with someone, go get yourself and your partner checked out for HIV. If all is well, you can then consider to dispense with the condom (for oral sex), but only if you are confident you can trust your partner. Remember that the test is valid for the period immediately after it was conducted and does to look to detect other STDs.

To avoid risks during unprotected oral sex it is important to:

• Keep semen and vaginal fluids out of your mouth.
• Make sure that your mouth is healthy and that you don't have bleeding gums, cuts, or mouth sores, because the presence of blood will increase your risk.