Hi health nurse,
There are girls in Victoria being told that the health nurses have stated that giving a BBBJ is safer than having intercourse with a condom. Is this true? If so, could you please point me in the direction of statistical or pertinent studies or information confirming this? I've been around a long time and have never heard that before. Thanks so much.
Hi classycarly
I have never heard that a bbbj is safer than having intercourse with a condom. Very interesting information, I have heard that a bbbj is less riskier than unprotected intercourse.
Since many of the infections pass different ways I think I should look at each infection separately and break down the risk. We also assume that condoms used properly each time with no breakages.
Gonorrhea:
Risk to the woman:
BBBJ: Good evidence that gonorrhea passes to the throat.
Intercourse with a condom: Condoms offer excellent protection against gonorrhea. I guess if gonorrhea did infect the cervix there is more potential damage than if it infected the throat but we are saying a condom was used correctly with no breakages.
Chlamydia:
Risk to the woman:
BBBJ: Good evidence that chlamydia passes to the throat.
Intercourse with a condom: Condoms offer excellent protection against chlamydia. I guess if chlamydia did infect the cervix there is more potential damage than if it infected the throat but we are saying a condom was used correctly with no breakages.
Syphilis:
Risk to the woman:
BBBJ: Good evidence that syphilis can pass to the mouth.
Intercourse with a condom: Because syphilis passes from skin to skin contact by a syphilis sore condoms do not offer complete protection but using a condom would offer more protection than a bbbj.
HIV
Risk to the woman:
BBBJ: This would be considered a low risk for HIV transmission.
Intercourse with a condom: Condoms offer great protection against HIV transmission. If the condom broke you would go straight to high risk but we are assuming condoms are used every time with no breakages.
Human papillomavirus (genital warts (HPV))
Risk to the woman:
BBBJ: There is evidence that HPV can be transmitted to the mouth. The risk of this HPV in the mouth is still unknown.
Intercourse with a condom: Given that HPV passes from skin to skin transmission condoms do not offer complete transmission. Condoms do offer some protection but HPV can still be transmitted. Currently it appears that there is more health concerns with getting HPV on the cervix than in the throat. This is due to the know risk of cervical cancer being linked to HPV.
Herpes simplex virus (HSV)
Risk to the woman:
BBBJ: Good evidence that HSV can pass to the mouth.
Intercourse with a condom: Because HSV passes from skin to skin contact condoms do not offer complete protection. Condoms do offer some protection but HSV can still be transmitted.
From the above it seems overall that bbbj is more risky in most cases when compared with intercourse with a condom that is used properly with no breakages.
HN
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