In rare case, HIV passed between women
Gay.com /
PlanetOut.com Network
Randy Dotinga
February 4, 2003
Doctors in Pennsylvania have reported what may be a first: a likely case of HIV transmission between female sex partners.
An HIV-positive bisexual woman may have infected her partner by using sex toys so vigorously that she bled during intercourse, according to a report in the Feb. 1 issue of the medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
The partner who became infected, a 20-year-old college student, said she had only engaged in lesbian sex over the past two years and always with the same woman. Genetic tests on the viruses within the women suggest that the bisexual woman infected the other.
The bisexual woman knew she was HIV-positive and took precautions when she had sex with men, as directed by her doctor, the report said. She also took care to not share toothbrushes and razors, according to the report by Dr. Helena Kwakwa of Philadelphia's Mercy Hospital and Dr. M.W. Ghobrial of Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby, Pa.
Doctors reported a few cases of apparent lesbian-to-lesbian HIV transmission in the late 1980s and early 1990s, said Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, an expert in lesbian sexually transmitted diseases at the University of Washington. But the doctors had to rely on the women's reports about their sex lives.
"None suggest that transmission occurred as strongly as this case does," Marrazzo said. "It would be unlikely for the HIV virus (news - web sites) to be so similar in both of these women if one hadn't given it to the other."
Transmission may have come through vaginal fluids infected with blood, she said, and the case confirms that lesbians should be aware of HIV risks, she said. "It's a good idea to know your partner in more ways than one. Does she have HIV? Ever been tested? Had sex with someone who had it, or was high risk for it? Used IV drugs or crack?"
Lesbians are vulnerable to a variety of STDs besides HIV, but many are unaware of the risks, Marrazzo said.
"We just finished several focus groups here (in Seattle) because we're starting a study on a safer sex intervention among lesbians. The lack of knowledge about basic STDs and how a woman might get them from another woman was really disturbing. There's a ton of education needed -- not just of lesbians, but of their health care providers," she said.
Women who have sex with women should get tested for diseases like chlamydia, herpes and HIV before beginning a sexual relationship, she said. "If that's not possible, know how to use barrier protection (gloves, condoms on sex toys) if indicated. It really depends on whether two women are planning to be monogamous, and what STDs they might be bringing into the relationship to start with."