Home / Answered Questions / Can HIV transmit through skin problems? I’ve been dealing with jock itch for a while. It’s usually a red area with small bumps. It’s usually itchy and I scratch it mostly. But it’s not bleeding or I cannot see any ‘open wounds’. I read so many things on internet that says ‘If vaginal fluid contacts with non-intact skin, transmission may occur’ But I do not know that what exactly is ‘non-intact’ skin? Is red skin can be considered as non-intact? Or, simply, does my jock itch creates enough room to contact the virus in vaginal fluids? Let me explain my situation from beginning: As I told you above, I’ve been dealing with jock itch. And I had a fully-protected vaginal sex 20 days ago. I didn’t give oral, I only received for 20-25 seconds. There were kissing but she didn’t have blood on her mouth or something. And before the sex or during the sex, I didn’t scratch the area that has jock itch (usually the area between my testicles and inner leg). But I’m worried about if any vaginal fluid contacts with this area during the sex, is there any chance for me to contact HIV? Does the wound need to be actively bleeding or ‘open (?) or any kind of skin problem is enough? And the last thing is: I tested with my partner in a clinic and they used Alere Determine HIV1/2 ag/ab combo (finger blood). Both of us were negative but she said that she had a suspectful sexual intercourse 37 days ago from testing day. Is it possible for a 4th gen point of care blood test to miss infections after 37-38 day? I also tested today in a lab which looks for p24ag+HIV1/2 AB and result came negative but it was only 18 days after this intercourse and my clinican said it’s not enough. So I’m asking to you: Does jock itch (groin, inner leg etc.) creates a risk for me? Is 37-38 days enough to detect for a 4th gen test? Thank you!