From Caribbean360

Previous reports of women contracting HIV from other women via sex have been hard to prove with other risk factors present.

NEW YORK, United States, The first case of female-to-female HIV transmission during sex has been confirmed by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), blowing the myth that gay women in a monogamous relationship are at negligible risk of contracting AIDS.

Previous reports of women contracting HIV from other women via sex have been hard to nail down, with other risk factors – including recent sexual activity with men, intravenous drug use, tattooing, piercing, or other potentially risky behaviours – factoring into the equation.

The landmark case, as outlined in a paper published by the CDC last week, nevertheless seems to offer proof beyond reasonable doubt.

The two women involved were in a monogamous relationship for six months, at the start of which, one was HIV-positive, the other was not.

The woman who entered the relationship HIV-negative said it had been 10 years since she had had sex with a man, and she did not use intravenous drugs, get tattoos, or have acupuncture. Additionally, she had been the recipient of neither transfusions nor transplants.

She nevertheless sold her blood plasma from time to time, and had tested negative for HIV when donating plasma in March 2012.

Less than a fortnight later, she went to hospital with symptoms including sore throat, fever, muscle aches, dry cough, vomiting and diarrhoea. The results of an HIV test at that time were still negative.

Two-and-a-half weeks later, when she went to sell her plasma again, she tested HIV positive.

The two women disclosed that they had unprotected sex frequently, during which their activities occasionally caused one or the other of them to bleed. They also said they shared sex toys and had sex when one of them was menstruating.

The CDC concluded that while rare, it is possible for a woman to contract HIV from a female sexual partner.

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