Female to female HIV transmission

Data on the transmission of HIV between women are scarce. Although several studies have shown no evidence of transmission between women who have sex with women, there have been a few reports describing cases of female-to-female transmission identified on the basis of the absence of a history of alternative risks for HIV infection. Recent research reports a case of female-to-female HIV transmission in the absence of other obvious risk.Researchers from the Mercy Hospital of Philadelphia report a recent case of a 20-year-old woman who became infected with HIV. The patient indicated she had had sexual relations exclusively with an HIV infected woman for the prior two years, and that she had been aware of her partner's infectious status. Sexual relations with her partner involved oral contact and the sharing of sex toys. The patient said that although she and her partner had never had sex during menstruation, on occasion a small amount of bleeding occurred during sex. The infected partner was openly bisexual, and reported using condoms whenever engaging in heterosexual sex. Researchers confirmed that the patient had never shared razors or toothbrushes with her infected partner. Also, she had no history of injection drug use, had never received blood transfusions, had no known exposure to body fluids, never engaged in heterosexual sex, had healthy gums and teeth and had no tattoos or body piercing. The researchers concluded that the patient may have become infected as a result of sexual contact with her infected partner and suggested that the infection probably resulted from the drawing of blood in conjunction with the shared use of sex toys.The present study provides little more support to the existence offemale-to-female transmission of HIV. Women having sex with women could do a number of things to protect themselves from HIV. As this study shows, it exists, and there certainly needs to be more information and research on women to women transmission.