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What makes the case—which was reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) back in 1996—highly suspect is the fact that the couple also reported condom breakage during the same period, using anonoxynol-9 lubricant(now known to increase HIV risk in women), and havingvaginal sexandoral sexwithout condoms during the span of their relationship.
While the CDC reported that they suspected HIV transmission was “possibly associated with exposure of mucous membranes to contaminated blood,” they could not exclude vaginal sex, oral sex, or any other possibility.
Beyond this one incident, there has been no documented case wherein kissing alone was identified as the mode of HIV transmission in either a sexual or social situation.
Establishing the Conditions for HIV Transmission
It’s important to always remember that there are four conditions that must be met in order for HIV transmission to take place:
AIDS Phobia and Conspiracy Theorists
With that being said, there are people who still fear that infection is possible from the unlikely sources, including touching, mosquitos, shared grooming products, and kissing.AIDS phobia, the paralyzing and unreasonable fear of HIV, plays a huge part in these beliefs.At other times, a person may prescribe to a contrarian view about HIV or are simply misinformed about HIV in general.
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5 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HIV risk reduction tool.Estimate the HIV risk.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Transmission of HIV possibly associated with exposure of mucous membrane to contaminated blood.MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1997;46(27):620-623.AIDSinfo.The basics of HIV prevention.Summers, RW.Social Psychology: How Other People Influence Our Thoughts and Actions. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO; 2016.HIV.gov.Pre-exposure prophylaxis.Additional ReadingBogart LM, Galvan FH, Wagner GJ, Klein DJ.Longitudinal association of HIV conspiracy beliefs with sexual risk among black males living with HIV.AIDS Behav. 2011;15(6):1180-1186. doi:10.1007/s10461-010-9796-7Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Transmission of HIV possibly associated with exposure of mucous membrane to contaminated blood.MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1997;46(27):620-623.
5 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HIV risk reduction tool.Estimate the HIV risk.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Transmission of HIV possibly associated with exposure of mucous membrane to contaminated blood.MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1997;46(27):620-623.AIDSinfo.The basics of HIV prevention.Summers, RW.Social Psychology: How Other People Influence Our Thoughts and Actions. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO; 2016.HIV.gov.Pre-exposure prophylaxis.Additional ReadingBogart LM, Galvan FH, Wagner GJ, Klein DJ.Longitudinal association of HIV conspiracy beliefs with sexual risk among black males living with HIV.AIDS Behav. 2011;15(6):1180-1186. doi:10.1007/s10461-010-9796-7Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Transmission of HIV possibly associated with exposure of mucous membrane to contaminated blood.MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1997;46(27):620-623.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HIV risk reduction tool.Estimate the HIV risk.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Transmission of HIV possibly associated with exposure of mucous membrane to contaminated blood.MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1997;46(27):620-623.AIDSinfo.The basics of HIV prevention.Summers, RW.Social Psychology: How Other People Influence Our Thoughts and Actions. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO; 2016.HIV.gov.Pre-exposure prophylaxis.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HIV risk reduction tool.Estimate the HIV risk.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Transmission of HIV possibly associated with exposure of mucous membrane to contaminated blood.MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1997;46(27):620-623.
AIDSinfo.The basics of HIV prevention.
Summers, RW.Social Psychology: How Other People Influence Our Thoughts and Actions. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO; 2016.
HIV.gov.Pre-exposure prophylaxis.
Bogart LM, Galvan FH, Wagner GJ, Klein DJ.Longitudinal association of HIV conspiracy beliefs with sexual risk among black males living with HIV.AIDS Behav. 2011;15(6):1180-1186. doi:10.1007/s10461-010-9796-7Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Transmission of HIV possibly associated with exposure of mucous membrane to contaminated blood.MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1997;46(27):620-623.
Bogart LM, Galvan FH, Wagner GJ, Klein DJ.Longitudinal association of HIV conspiracy beliefs with sexual risk among black males living with HIV.AIDS Behav. 2011;15(6):1180-1186. doi:10.1007/s10461-010-9796-7
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