Can HIV be transmitted between women during sex?
Several reports in the medical literature indicate possible female-to-female sexual transmission of HIV. AIDS surveillance data indicate that women with AIDS who are reported to have had sexual contact only with other women have also been reported to have injected drugs or to have received blood transfusions or blood components. Although these risk factors do not preclude the possibility that the mode of transmission of HIV for these women was female-to-female sexual contact, the absence of cases in women who have sex with women, without other established risk factors, is striking. We interpret this observation to mean that these women likely acquired their infection through injection drug use or receipt of blood transfusion or blood components. Studies also suggest that HIV infection in women who have sex with women is closely associated with sexual contact with men whose behavior puts them at increased risk for HIV infection. Women who have sexual contact with other women need to be
