People may get HIV from oral sex

Condition analysis:
Yes, it's possible -- whether you're giving or getting oral sex. While no one knows exactly how risky it is, evidence suggests it has less of a risk than unprotected anal or vaginal sex.

You should use protection for oral sex, too: A latex condom on a man, and a latex barrier between a woman's vagina and her partner's mouth. This barrier could be a natural rubber latex sheet, a dental dam, or a cut-open condom that makes a square. In a pinch, you can even use plastic food wrap.

Instructions:
Several factors contribute to the lack of formal research investigating complementary medicine’s efficacy in HIV.

One of them relates to the pharmaceutical industry’s lack of incentive to conduct such research.

Even though several herbal formulations have undergone in vitro testing which has shown evidence of their having antiretroviral activity, few drug companies have conducted preclinical or clinical investigations to provide further evidence of their efficacy or safety.

Perhaps that is because - unlike with pharmaceutical agents, for which drug companies must comply with strict Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines prior to taking them to market - drug companies aren’t allowed to patent herbal formulations and consequently seize exclusive rights to them.