Oral Sex ?

What is oral sex?

Oral sex involves putting the mouth on the penis (fellatio), vagina (cunnilingus), or anus (anilingus).

What we know about oral sex:

The chance an HIV-negative person will get HIV from oral sex with an HIV-positive partner is extremely low. However, it's hard to know the exact risk because a lot of people who have oral sex also have anal or vaginal sex. The risk is even lower if the HIV-negative partner is taking medicine to prevent HIV (pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP) or the HIV-positive partner is taking medicine to treat HIV (antiretroviral therapy or ART) and is virally suppressed.

But you can get other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) from oral sex. And, if you get feces in your mouth during anilingus, you can get hepatitis A and B, parasites like Giardia, and other bacteria like Shigella, Salmonella, Campylobacter, and E. coli.

What you can do

Because your mouth may come into contact with feces or other body fluids during oral sex, it is important that you talk to a health care provider about your chances of getting hepatitis A and B. If you've never had hepatitis A or B, there are vaccines to prevent it. Your provider can help you decide if vaccination is right for you.

Additional Resources

Learn the relative risk of different sexual activities, and how some factors can increase or decrease the risk of getting or transmitting HIV.

Learn about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's HIV prevention campaigns:

Act Against AIDS: Encouraging all Americans to learn more about HIV/AIDS.

Start Talking. Stop HIV.: Encouraging gay and bisexual men to have conversations about safer sex.