Sexuality Stack Exchange Archive

What are the risks involved in fellatio?

• posted by: TRiG on 2015-07-28
• tagged: oral-sex, stds, health
• score: 22

I know that there is some risk to fellatio, but there’s always some risk to everything.

My questions are:

• How can I evaluate the risks involved?
• What diseases can be passed on through fellatio, and what is the likelihood of their transmission?
• Is there anything specific to look out for that might indicate that a certain situation is more risky than usual? (I assume that open sores either on the penis or inside the mouth would be an example of this, but what about bleeding gums? Is there anything else here that I’ve not thought of?)
• And what steps can be taken to minimize those risks?

Answer 169

• posted by: nus on 2015-07-30
• score: 6

This information can be found by researching through the internet, or by getting a prevention sheet from an organization working on aids prevention. On the other hand there is probably no reliable statistical risk evaluation as "two healthy people with one carrying disease Y, would have xx % risk of transmitting it during fellatio". And for any practical application I wouldn't count on it not to get transmitted.

This is a list from wikipedia performing oral sex on a man:

Throat chlamydia
Throat gonorrhea (25–30%)
Herpes (rare)
HPV15
Syphilis14 (1%)
Hepatitis B (low risk)
HIV (0.01%)
Hepatitis C (unknown)

Receiving oral sex as a man:

Chlamydia
Gonorrhea
Herpes
Syphilis (1%)
HPV

See the wikipedia article for sources about each infection. In general there are infections which don't need to go into the blood in order to infect skin and mucous membrane. For them there aren't necessarily any signs (but there can be, see the symptoms for each infection).

Anything involving blood increases the risks for infections that infect the blood stream, like HIV, including bleeding gums. Skin on the gland and in the urethra is also thin and allows certain viruses/bacteria to pass through, unlike ordinary skin. Notably HIV can also be transmitted by semen.

For most infections actually swallowing something doesn't necessarily mean you are taking an extra risk since few bacteria/viruses survive the digestive system. There are some that do, but I have not looked it up for sexually transmissible infections (they are generally called that because they infect through skin and blood).

Answer 261

• posted by: simon’s.donut on 2015-08-04
• score: 1

To answer your last question regarding how to minimize the risks involved with fellatio, in regards to possible diseases, protection is always key. Like previously mentioned, if there is presence of an infection, there might not be any signs and symptoms. For fellatio, the only effective barrier against STIs is the condom as shown here.

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