Swallowers take note: Giving head might protect against HIV

Photo: MenMachine.com

So now they're telling us that exposure to HIV is a good thing?

A group of Swedish researchers reported that repeated exposure to HIV during oral sex might actually protect someone from becoming infected with the virus. Evidently the body builds antibodies against the virus after repeated exposure. Unzipped has the scoop...

Researchers recruited 25 HIV-negative men who were in long-term relationships (at least six months) with HIV-positive men. Twenty-two additional HIV-negative men who were not in serodiscordant relationships were recruited at a blood donor clinic to act as controls. Of the 25 in relationships, 24 said they had performed unprotected oral sex—21 of those said it was on their HIV-positive partner. (Three of the men also reported that they'd had unprotected anal sex.)

The findings of the study suggest that repeated exposure to HIV causes the body to build a stronger immune response through specific antibodies (lgA1), which makes contracting HIV less likely. Hmm, that explains why all our come-guzzling friends are still negative.

Check out more results from the study here.