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Can sharing a towel with fresh semen to wipe your penis after sex be a risk for hiv?
Hi, I recently had protected anal sex. However my partner used a towel to wipe his ejaculate off his stomach then handed me the same towel which I then used to wipe my penis off after removing my condom. I’m worried that his cum on the towel potentially touched my urethra. I wasnt thinking in the moment and I don’t know this person’s status. What is the risk for HIV transmission through sharing towels with fresh semen on them?
Your situation involves personal contact with an object in air (hand, fluids, maybe blood, cuts, urethra etc. ). You will be happy to learn that you had no risk, because you can't get hiv from personal contact except unprotected penetrating vaginal or anal with a penis, neither of which you did and you didn't share hollow needles to inject with which is the only other way to acquire hiv - there are ONLY 3 ways to get hiv. Note that 2 of them require a penis and the third requires a hollow injecting shared needle - there are no OTHER ways to get hiv. Analysis of large numbers of infected people over the 40 years of hiv history has proven that people don't get hiv in the way you are worried is a risk.
Hiv is a fragile virus in air or saliva and is effectively instantly dead in either air or saliva so the WORST that could happen is dead virus rubbed you, and obviously anything which is dead cannot live again so you are good. Blood and cuts would not be relevant in your situation since the hiv has become effectively dead, so you don't have to worry about them to be sure that you are safe.
There is no reason for a person to test when they are safe. The advice took into consideration that the other person might be positive, so move on and enjoy life instead of thinking about this non-event. hiv prevention is straightforward since there are only 3 ways you can become infected, so next time you wonder if you had a risk, ask yourself this QUESTION. "Did I do any of the 3?" Then after you ANSWER "No, I didn't" you will know that it's time to move on back to your happy life.
No one got hiv from what you did during 40 years of hiv history and no one will get it in the next 40 years of your life either. You can do what you did any time and be safe from hiv.
The other person's status is irrelevant when you have no exposure to live virus. You can't get hiv when you use a condom, and if it failed it would rip wide open down the seam so that didn't happen.
Your worries should stop now.
No one ever got hiv from touching it or everyone would have it by now, and you can't get hiv when you use a condom that doesn't rip open.
Hiv is a fragile virus in air or saliva and is effectively instantly dead in either air or saliva so the WORST that could happen is dead virus rubbed you, and obviously anything which is dead cannot live again so you are good. Blood and cuts would not be relevant in your situation since the hiv has become effectively dead, so you don't have to worry about them to be sure that you are safe.
There is no reason for a person to test when they are safe. The advice took into consideration that the other person might be positive, so move on and enjoy life instead of thinking about this non-event. hiv prevention is straightforward since there are only 3 ways you can become infected, so next time you wonder if you had a risk, ask yourself this QUESTION. "Did I do any of the 3?" Then after you ANSWER "No, I didn't" you will know that it's time to move on back to your happy life.
No one got hiv from what you did during 40 years of hiv history and no one will get it in the next 40 years of your life either. You can do what you did any time and be safe from hiv.
The other person's status is irrelevant when you have no exposure to live virus. You can't get hiv when you use a condom, and if it failed it would rip wide open down the seam so that didn't happen.
Your worries should stop now.
No one ever got hiv from touching it or everyone would have it by now, and you can't get hiv when you use a condom that doesn't rip open.
3 Comments
Thank you for your answer. So you’re saying that the moment he ejaculated and wiped it on the towel any potential hiv would have died. Even between the brief moment that it possibly came into contact with my penis opening?
Your original post was clear. It's time to move on.
You can't get HIV or STDs from objects, surfaces, or textiles - no matter what.
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