the dangers of oral pleasure
Mar. 25th, 2003 04:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
novapsycheStudy Looks at How HIV May Spread Through Oral Sex
Laboratory studies of mouth tissue suggest that unprotected oral sex does have the potential to transmit HIV, but an expert said it is still less risky than other routes of transmission.
The results of this study help researchers understand how HIV is transmitted and suggest that even oral tissue that is intact -- without any tears or sores -- can become infected with HIV under the right circumstances.
Dr. Xuan Liu, of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, California and colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles obtained oral tissue samples from over 50 healthy, HIV-negative patients and exposed the tissue to three different types of HIV.
They found that two of the types could infect and reproduce within cells called keratinocytes that line the surface of the mouth, and that these cells can then transfer the infection to adjacent white blood cells.
However, the level of infection in the mouth cells was much lower than that seen in white blood cells -- approximately one-fourth to one-eighth lower.
[...] "HIV is able to get into (keratinocytes), but it reproduces less than it would in blood cells ... because saliva contains an HIV inhibitor," Liu told Reuters Health.
Under certain circumstances, Liu said, keratinocytes are able to release the virus to blood cells, which proliferate much faster than keratinocytes. Thus, the transfer of the infection from keratinocytes to white blood cells may provide a "foothold" for HIV in the body.
[...] Laurence believes the findings indicate there is "no reason for altering safer sex guidelines that have been talked about for over 15 years."
"No exchange of infected bodily fluids is absolutely safe, but kissing has been shown to be of no risk, and oral sex is of much lower risk than the other traditional factors known to spread HIV."
Laboratory studies of mouth tissue suggest that unprotected oral sex does have the potential to transmit HIV, but an expert said it is still less risky than other routes of transmission.
The results of this study help researchers understand how HIV is transmitted and suggest that even oral tissue that is intact -- without any tears or sores -- can become infected with HIV under the right circumstances.
Dr. Xuan Liu, of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, California and colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles obtained oral tissue samples from over 50 healthy, HIV-negative patients and exposed the tissue to three different types of HIV.
They found that two of the types could infect and reproduce within cells called keratinocytes that line the surface of the mouth, and that these cells can then transfer the infection to adjacent white blood cells.
However, the level of infection in the mouth cells was much lower than that seen in white blood cells -- approximately one-fourth to one-eighth lower.
[...] "HIV is able to get into (keratinocytes), but it reproduces less than it would in blood cells ... because saliva contains an HIV inhibitor," Liu told Reuters Health.
Under certain circumstances, Liu said, keratinocytes are able to release the virus to blood cells, which proliferate much faster than keratinocytes. Thus, the transfer of the infection from keratinocytes to white blood cells may provide a "foothold" for HIV in the body.
[...] Laurence believes the findings indicate there is "no reason for altering safer sex guidelines that have been talked about for over 15 years."
"No exchange of infected bodily fluids is absolutely safe, but kissing has been shown to be of no risk, and oral sex is of much lower risk than the other traditional factors known to spread HIV."