This Month's HIV/AIDS Facts

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Question: Can I get AIDS from someone’s saliva? Can I get AIDS from open-mouth kissing?

Basic Answer: AIDS (a result of HIV infection) is caused by a virus (HIV). There are no known cases of saliva by itself spreading HIV (the virus that causes AIDS). However, because there could be a risk of blood contact during prolonged open-mouth kissing, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends against doing this with a partner who has HIV.

Detailed Answer: AIDS (a result of HIV infection) is caused by a virus (HIV). There are no known cases of saliva by itself spreading HIV (the virus that causes AIDS). The possibility that saliva can spread HIV is considered only theoretical because --

• Saliva contains proteins that reduce the ability of HIV to infect cells.
• Researchers very rarely are able to isolate HIV in saliva.
• There are only small amounts of HIV in the saliva of people with HIV, even in the saliva of people with bleeding gums or sores in the mouth. However, there have been extremely rare cases of transmission by severe human bites, in which the HIV-positive person’s saliva contained visible blood.

Prolonged open-mouth kissing could damage the mouth or lips. This may allow HIV to spread from a person with HIV to a partner through cuts, sores or mucus membranes in the mouth. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends against open-mouth kissing with a partner who has HIV because there could be a risk of blood contact. In 1997, the CDC reported a case of HIV transmission likely caused by open-mouth kissing between a man with HIV and his woman partner. After much study, researchers concluded that blood in the man’s saliva most likely infected the mucus membranes in the woman’s mouth. Both had gum disease that caused the gums to bleed easily, and the couple had consistently used condoms. The CDC emphasized that the far more common ways of getting HIV are through injection drug use and sex, and that there are no reported cases of HIV transmission from saliva only.

SOURCES:

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "HIV and Its Transmission." January 2001.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. MMWR, 1997; vol. 46, no. 27. "Transmission of HIV Possibly Associated with Exposure of Mucus Membrane to Contaminated Blood."
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National AIDS Hotline Training Bulletin, May 25, 1994; no. 101.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Surgeon General’s Report to the American Public on HIV Infection and AIDS. June 1993.
• DeVita, V., Jr., et al., eds. AIDS: Etiology, Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention, 4th ed. 1997.

For current statistics, contact the CDC National AIDS Hotline (800/342-AIDS), Spanish (800/344-7432), TTY/TDD (800/243-7889); the CDC Voice and Fax Information System (888/232-3228); the CDC National Prevention Information Network (800/458-5231) or its Web site at www.cdcnpin.org; or the CDC HIV/AIDS Web site at www.cdc.gov/hiv/dhap.htm.