Question - Can men be safer from an HIV+ female if she is not aroused?

[lenny]

Re HIV transmission to men relative to female arousal:

Can men be safer from an HIV+ female if she is not aroused?

"Transmission from females to males is dependent on a lot of factors such as open sores on the penis and vulva, vaginal trauma in women and circumcision in men (non-circumcised males have a higher risk of penile cancer). Female arousal includes a lubrication phase that squeezes water out of vaginal cells through vasodilation. The lubricant that forms is mostly water with a mix of squamous vaginal cells, cervical mucus and small amounts of blood. Luckily for us women, that can help reduce the risk of transmission to partners since more lubricant keeps the vagina safe from the cuts and scrapes of enthusiastic partners, and therefore less blood is introduced into the mix."

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...itted-diseases

If an SP or other female is not "aroused", but bored, starfishing or asleep during sex, might there be far fewer, if any, potentially dangerous fluids inside her? And if copious amounts of a lube like KY were used to minimize friction, would the risk of transmitting HIV &/or STI's be greatly reduced, if not eliminated, relative to an aroused and naturally wet HIV+ female? How could the HIV be transmitted if the fluids that carry it are not present?

 

[Health Nurse]

Interesting question, I haven't seen any studies that have looked at this question.

Having the vagina well lubricated can help protect the woman against HIV. As pointed out above not enough lubricant can result in cuts and scrapes in the vagina that allow HIV to get in easier. Anything that irritates the vagina can also increase this risk. e.g. They used to think that Nonoxynol-9 would help protect people against HIV but they found out that many woman were put at more risk because the Nonoxynol-9 could irritate the vagina and make it easier for HIV to be transmitted. Condoms and lube with Nonoxynol-9 is not longer recommended.

I guess the question really depends on how much fluid is needed for infection to take place. I know when we are doing vaginal exams on woman at the clinic who are not aroused, that when you look inside the vagina there is usually a far amount of fluid present as the vaginal walls are usually moist and the cervix secretes its own fluid to help naturally flush the vagina.

I would think that given this amount of fluid in the vagina that there would still be enough to consider unprotected vaginal sex to be high risk in regard to HIV transmitting to the man, even if the women was not aroused.

I don't know how much of a difference having more vaginal fluid would make.

HN
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