Condoms and Zika

Reservoir tip root boots for photoshoots

The Photo: a selection of colored latex condoms now increasing in popularity because of the Zika virus.

Zika protection: My circle and I have reluctantly begun to use condoms with our partners now because there is no other protection from the Zika virus while having sexual intercourse of any kind. For repeated acts of underwater PVI we have always used the nitrile female condom (FC2) – just as Taryn’s porn actresses do during rehearsals -  except for the cum shots - but we hadn’t been using latex condoms except with new men until we got the of their (negative) STI full panel results. Now all our casual partners taken while out clubbing have to glove up. “No glove, no love!” Latex is far better than polyethylene and Nitrile from the standpoint of its heat transfer properties. The super-thin latex is amazing and personally I like the textured ones since in a condom I don’t get the feel of an uncut man’s frenulum rubbing bareback against my G-spot during ballet-sex, when I’m taken from behind while on my toes. However, latex can be easily damaged by a sharp fingernail so there is that to be careful to avoid.

Reality: Most Escorts, Hostesses and women in my circle have never really been too concerned about birth defects since we all are using effective contraceptive methods and would terminate any unplanned pregnancy. But that is certainly foremost in the minds of most women of reproductive age especially now that it’s known that a woman can be infected by sexual intercourse. Our concern now is that as scientists learn more about Zika they are finding that there may be other long term problems (in addition to Guillain-Barre syndrome) even for adults who show no early symptoms.  Now we know that the virus can stay for at least six months or perhaps longer in a man’s semen.

But what about saliva? The U.S. CDC says that any secretions can transmit Zika so fellatio and cunnilingus are included.  I’ve never been a fan of dental dams so when clubbing oral sex is out at least for now. The rules at my London club, “The Costume Club” (AKA Clever Cunts), have been changed to substantially increase the use of condoms and most of the members understand as none of them wants to take Zika back to their wife and/or mistress.

So when I’m with a new and well-endowed man (and not menstrual) I’ll wear one of my transparent silicone Oves cervical caps for contraceptive protection while he wears a ultra-thin latex sheath lubricated with a water base lube. That way I’m not as likely to grip him so tightly when he is in my anterior fornix that the reservoir tip is flattened and his secretions squeezed out around his glans and down his shaft so he slides out. I know I could use an FC2, but inserting it ahead of time spoils the line of my nude pubes under a sheer thong and with the large anterior ring hanging out it is too much like advertising which is such a put-off and not my style at all!

Current UK (NHS) Zika virus guidance: This guidance is from August 6, 2016 the most recent official UK guidance available. However, the intervals of 6 months for avoiding unprotected sex may not be long enough as longer instances of the virus remaining active in semen have been found to occurred in the U.S. The article can be read HERE

Current (8-17-2016) U.S CDC Zika guidance concerning sexual transmission: Sex includes vaginal, anal, oral sex, and the sharing of sex toys The U.S. seems further ahead in Zika research, perhaps because there is greater likelihood of cases in states in the deep south.  The article can be read HERE

U.S. FDA advises testing for Zika virus in all donated blood and blood components in the US: On August 26^th the FDA said “As a further safety measure against the emerging Zika virus outbreak, today the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a revised guidance recommending universal testing of donated Whole Blood and blood components for Zika virus in the U.S. and its territories.”

“There is still much uncertainty regarding the nature and extent of Zika virus transmission,” said Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. “At this time, the recommendation for testing the entire blood supply will help ensure that safe blood is available for all individuals who might need transfusion.” The full News Release can be read HERE:

Zika and my circle: Given the cool climate in the UK experts think it unlikely that there will be much spread of Zika by mosquitos. However, it can be spread through bodily secretions during vaginal, anal, oral sex, and the sharing of sex toys so there could be transmission by persons infected by mosquitoes while traveling outside the UK.  Which is why I and my wards and other friends haven’t been visiting my home on Lost Cove on Virgin Gorda recently as the Caribbean is not safe for sunbathing and bikinis right now and it is also hurricane season there now as well. Not that I worry about microcephaly, since we all use effective means of contraception and would terminate an unplanned pregnancy should one occur, but the scientists are finding more about Zika almost daily and there could be more serious and long term effects for adults that are as yet unknown. And of course I wouldn’t want to infect partners during unprotected sex which I enjoy so much and have them spread it to others.

Gusset girls

Tights with a cotton gusset

The photo: The lovely soft thick cotton gusset of a pair of my play tights that can effectively absorb my coital discharge after taking an unprotected man. I Kegel of course, if I have time, but one can never get all a lover’s spend especially if taken from behind during ballet-sex with a large man when he fills the posterior fornix.

Cotton gussets and feminine hygiene: With the women enrolled in my current Pelvic Intensive as sexually active as they are with multiple partners it very important that their tights have soft absorbent cotton gussets to wick away sweat and coitial discharge as there will always be a certain amount of drainage. And for me the gusset seams cradle my vulva and the wide central seam presses gently on the shaft of my clitoris keeping me aroused, wet and ready for my next opportunity to enjoy a lusty man penetrating me.

Absorbent gussets and condoms: Under some circumstances latex condoms can be such fun! I find them useful in some situations especially when I am out in public and my partner gets frisky. Then if he didn’t wear a condom I would drain a great deal more into my thong, tights or swimsuit which could be embarrassing. In the winter I always wear tights with cotton gussets. However, even if my vulva is cosseted by a cotton gusset a condom will make spontaneous sex much less messy and for fantasists condoms can add another level to sex play especially if the man has an impregnation fantasy.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts a surprising number of my lovers like to fantasize about impregnating me. Well probably any woman they are with but it thrills me that in their imaginations they are impregnating me, and if I’m not careful they could stand a good chance of doing just that. I tease them after they have ejaculated and safely pulled out by stripping off the condom, tying off the open end and biting through the tip to suck out the semen while it is still thick, warm and creamy. I think of swallowing it as a nutritional supplement. When it is sliding down my throat I always think that it could have had such a different effect on me had he released it deep in my vagina against my unprotected ripe cervix and I tease him about eating all his little wiggly baby-makers knowing that he would boast about impregnating me should it ever happen and he found out.

Should my barrier protection ever fail I’d take EllaOne (30 mg of ulipristal acetate) which blocks the progestin receptors for five days and hope it would delay ovulation long enough that his sperm in my tubes would be dead by the time I release the egg. While I love risk taking, my idea of fun is having him spew his seed against the stretchy latex dome of my favorite flat spring diaphragm with my egg white fertile cervical mucus filling the dome. I still have a few Reflexions ones that I use even though our clinic now has its own FS latex diaphragms to supply Escorts who are the primary users of FS latex diaphragms.

Bea is with me for Spring break: Trinity College Cambridge Spring break is from Friday March 11 through March 20^th. Classes resume on Monday March 21^st. Marvin (Morning Wood) is staying at Trinity in his lodgings to ‘work’, but I know he is playing with his current ‘bed-bunny’, Miss GyneFix née Nexplanon. Bea brought along a boyfriend in his early 20s from her ballet class and even though we have plenty of spare bedrooms they are sleeping together. Of course they are! They make a lovely couple and seem to like each other a lot although it may just be the sex as theirs is still a very new romance and passion if not pure lust is still obvious between them.

Seizure at ten fathoms: One of the Flowers, Heather, had some sort of seizure during a dive-sex encounter while tethered with an ankle leash to the bottom of the shallow (65 foot) deep well. Her partner released the Velcro ankle strap on the leash and hit the fill on her BC and they both surfaced w/o a decompression stop. Fortunately Carla my Divemaster had her boyfriend, a dive medicine doctor who works for a clinic in Aberdeen, visiting and they got Heather and her partner, Doc, on to amphibious gurneys and rolled them up the ramp of the access platform and into the multi-bed hypobaric chamber within minutes of Heather’s seizure. Fortunately she was wearing an OTS Guardian FFM and didn’t vomit so other than biting her tongue she could breathe though she lost consciousness.

They were breathing Enriched Air Nitrox with 32% oxygen (EAN32) and had been down long enough to require at least one deco stop. Doc will be fine. It’s unclear what caused Heather’s seizure and she was helo-lifted to private dive-medicine facility in Milford Haven for extensive testing. This was the first use of the MBHC with an actual patient. Carla, my Divemaster, and her dive medicine boyfriend worked like the professional team they are getting Heather stabilized and to the helicopter when it arrived. The massive freight elevator runs all the way from the mechanical room for the pumps and filtering system below the pools past the pool level where the MBHC is located to the surface in the lower bailey where there is room to unload heavy equipment and land a helicopter. 

In addition to the seizure at the very least she had a case of the Bends and no one knows yet what caused her seizure so it’s unclear what if any long term effects she may have other than probably never diving again. Doc was told to rest for several days so Bea and her boyfriend have filled in for Heather and Doc on the pelvic training schedule. Bea and especially her Cambridge stud-muffin didn’t seem to mind boarding the sexual merry-go-round with the Flowers and Elves so this could be a test of their affection for one another.

I had Bea and Stud-muffin stop by our London clinic before boarding The Dragon for the trip to Caersws and Blackthorn Castle to update their full STI panels and to test for the Zika virus. Bea also had an ultrasound to make sure her GyneFix was still in place. Zika seems unlikely but at Cambridge where there are a lot of men traveling back and forth from countries where Zika is running rampant one can never be too careful and the sale of condoms at Universities in the UK has spiked as women try to protect themselves from Zika since even though they may not be pregnant there is the chance of Guillen Barre and paralysis and no athlete/dancer wants to risk that.

Fortunately Bea brought her pointe-shoes and practice clothes with her and her dive gear is here so she is already kitted out and Stud-muffin can wear Marvin’s kit so he too is good to go.  Bea is somewhat used to a frequent change of sexual partners but Stud-muffin is in for sex with many more beautiful partners than he could have ever anticipated. It will be interesting to see how that affects his sexual stamina and his relationship with Bea.

 

The Zika virus and intimate contact

The Aedes aegypti mosquito transmits Zika virus

The Photo: An Aedes aegypti mosquito feeding. Photo by Muhammad Mahdi Karim (www.micro2macro.net) Facebook YouTube - Own work, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11185617.

The Zika virus mosquito (Aedes aegypti) is a mosquito that can be recognized by white markings on its legs and a marking in the form of a lyre on the upper surface of the thorax. The mosquito originated in Africa but is now found in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world and in 2015 was recognized as starting the Zika virus caused epidemic of babies with microcephaly. The term refers to a rare neurological condition in which children have unusually small heads. In many cases it also means a baby's brain is smaller and may not have developed properly.

Lost Cove, Virgin Gorda and Zika: The BVIs Government haven’t put out much on limiting exposure to the Zika virus which is sure to be in the BVIs by now. My caretaker staff overseen by the estate manager for my good friend Alice Duchess of M**** who has an estate just over the ridge from mine has her staff and mine ensuring there is no standing water where larvae can mature and power foggers are spraying insecticides routinely. I’m now really of two minds about vacationing at Lost Cove. I was so looking forward to several weeks of sun and sand away from the seemingly perpetual rainy skies and gales of the UK. Now it seems I may have waited too late to vacation there this year or until there is a vaccine for Zika. Not that I want to get preggers, but to have to use condoms with my partners while there and for several weeks afterward is such an inconvenience and robs the act of a lot of the skin-on-skin intimacy and the actual exchange of fluids which I so enjoy.

Still, our female staff and guests are cautioned to be sure to use their birth control method(s) correctly since a bite from a Zika carrying mosquito can doom a wanted pregnancy. So far the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Brazil where the virus seems to have first appeared in the Americas has not officially taken a stand on aborting a Zika damaged pregnancy, although one bishop has said a fetus with severe birth defects is no reason to abort the pregnancy. Easy for him to say! He is undoubtedly the very model of a 19^th centaury prelate poncing about in a dress with his head up his a**!  The Church is going to spring for the care of all the micro cephalic infants that weren’t aborted because abortion is illegal in Catholic South American countries, aren’t they! Oh yes! No one should hold their breath! One hopes that South American political and Catholic Church officials come to their senses and show the compassion they continually preach to their flock in the cases of impaired pregnancies.  

The 2016 Summer Olympic Games: There are reports that health authorities in Brazil (where the pandemic began in South America) are not being cooperative in supplying samples of the virus to other countries researchers. This is said to have something with Brazilian laws! Go figure! Earlier reports of sewage filled swimming competition locations were bad enough! However, with what is known now about the hazards of Zika (unless there is some miraculous scientific breakthrough that eradicates Zika) I can’t imagine the 2016 Olympic Games (the XXXI Olympiad) being held as currently scheduled in Rio de Janeiro from August 5^th August 21^st.  Or if the games are not canceled the huge disappointment to young couples trying to get pregnant canceling attending, or risking infection and birth defects by attending.

Zika can be transmitted through sex: The virus can stay active in blood for about a week and can be transmitted through unprotected intercourse and active virus has now been found in saliva and urine. It is not clear that Zika can be transmitted through saliva and urine, but some authorities in Brazil recommend avoiding kissing. As this is written it is unclear how long secretions from a Zika infected person can transmit the virus to his or her partner. The US CDC is working on an answer. For penile-vaginal intercourse this is making latex or nitrile condoms the safest way to have sex with a person who has been in an area where Zika is known to be active, but saliva and urine as possible virus transmitters makes it a whole new ballgame putting kissing not to mention cunnilingus and fellatio risky as well. Since the HIV virus can penetrate natural lamb condoms they probably aren’t safe to use as protection from Zika either. Nothing has been said (yet) about the virus in perspiration.

Zika is an Arbovirus so there is no quick field test to determine if a person is infected. Blood test intervals of 4 to 14 days can be expected depending on lab load which peaks in summer months.

NHS Zika guidelines can be found HERE

US CDC Zika diagnostic guidelines can be found HERE.

US CDC Zika Q&A can be found HERE

The Costume Club and Zika:  The transmission of Zika through human secretions has caused precautions to be taken with members of my London club in Kensington off Holland Park road. The Costume Club, AKA Clever Cunts), is requiring members to have a current passport showing they have not been in Central or South America or other Zika affected areas for at least three weeks before being allowed to exchange secretions with a Hostess. Otherwise it is using latex or nitrile condoms for every act of anal, vaginal or oral intercourse. The Aedes aegypti mosquito likes warm weather so England in the winter isn’t likely to breed many, but travelers can bring the virus back to the UK. It would be bad enough if a Hostess or two contracted Zika from a member, but since they are all using very effective LARC methods of contraception there is little likelihood of a Hostess becoming pregnant with an infant with serious birth defects. It is thought that once infected with Zika a person builds up immunity and can not be reinfected.

However, an infected Hostess could spread Zika to other club members which is unacceptable. It is far more difficult to be dismissive about a member contracting Zika from a Hostess and giving it to his mistress and/or pregnant wife. The board of governors acted quickly and unanimously on that so while there has been some grumbling, members understand.

The North Atlantic Drift: I’ve got a few minutes to myself so I’m actually missing the desert weather in Las Vegas. Go figure! The forecast for Llanidloes, the closest forecast to the castle, calls for heavy rain for the next three days from all the relatively warm air coming off the Atlantic dropping its moisture as it rises over the Cambrian Mountains. It’s making me want to risk a trip to Lost Cove regardless of the Zika virus.  

The North Atlantic Drift is the eastern branch of the Gulf Stream that turns south along the coast of Europe. The relatively warm waters of the North Atlantic Drift are responsible for moderating the climate of Western Europe, so that winters are less cold than would otherwise be expected at its latitude. Without the warm North Atlantic Drift, the UK and other places in Europe would be as cold as Canada, at the same latitude. For example, without this steady stream of warmth the British Isles winters are estimated to be more than 5 °C cooler, bringing the average December temperature in London to about 2°C, 35.6°F. Due to climate change the west coast of England and Wales is expected to get wetter and warmer over time.

Mine inspection, girl-girl with Anya, Zika virus

A nugget of gold from northern Wales photo National Museum of Wales

The Photo: Welsh Gold. “Waterworn gold nugget 20 mm in length and 6.5 g. Found in 2001 following severe flash-floods on the Afon Wen, Gwynedd. Nuggets of this size are now exceptionally rare in North Wales rivers following centuries of prospecting. © J.S. Mason.” National Museum of Wales. Records indicate nothing approaching the size of this nugget has been found in the stream near the Barony’s mine.

Blackthorn Barony minerals: In the north east part of Carmarthenshire, near village of Pumsaint is the oldest known gold mine in Wales, the Dolaucothi, which was worked by the Romans around 74 AD, but may have been worked by Bronze age settlers long before that. The Dolaucothi mine on the River Cothi is now owned by the National Trust. However, further north and east into the Cambrian Mountains is a small gold mine on Barony property which is still operating working a rich vein of very rare Welsh gold.

Charles, my Chamberlain of the Household and Estate Manager, had set up the tour and accompanied me. I got to talk to the miners their foreman and the works manager over lunch. They had come up to the castle, on a Barony provided shuttle, on Boxing Day to receive their boxes and my thanks, but I had been looking forward to meeting them again this time in situ. I had never been in an underground mine before even though I was born in a coal mining town in Southwest Virginia. When I was growing up they didn’t have take your daughter to work day in the mines, not that they do now either. So this was my first time in a working mine of any kind much less a gold mine that I own. Well, the barony owns it but it’s under my stewardship while I’m Baroness. 

My wards return:  Their vacation at Lost Cove on Virgin Gorda is over. Undergraduate and graduate classes begin at Trinity College Cambridge this Monday January 25 so Bea is now back at Cambridge. The Dryads (Bryony and Claire) will be back researching male fetishes for their doctorates in Psychology at the Costume Club AKA Clever Cunts in London. I didn’t get to enjoy the warm sun and clear water in the BVIs over the year end holidays, but my responsibilities as Baroness and Tim being here made it essential as well as a pleasure to remain in residence at Blackthorn Castle. I should be able to get some beach time before hurricane season begins in June.  Anya is staying with me at the castle for several weeks as her scheduler doesn’t have another assignment for her at the moment and here she can continue her workouts to remain in shape.

The Zika virus: Fortunately the Zika virus is not yet in the BVIs so my wards and Anya were safe. Zika, which resembles a light case of the flu, is spread by mosquitoes and is often so mild that people don't realize they have it. But health officials in Latin America say the tropical fever is linked to neurological problems and a surge in microcephaly, a condition in which babies are born with abnormally small heads. The defect can cause brain damage and death. While there is no vaccination using effective contraception or termination can avoid the tragedy of a baby with microcephaly. However, there is another possible problem as Zika seems to have a connection with Guillain-Barre syndrome which in severe cases can leave a sufferer partially paralyzed and that is a terror for athletic women like dancers!  For more about the Zika virus see the U.S. CDC site HERE.

Anya as a sex partner: Anya and I get along amazingly well as a couple since she can be very submissive when she wants to be and with me she wants to be almost always. As this is written I’m CD15 and ovulated yesterday, not that it matters at the moment as I have no male partner with me now, even so I wear an FemCap cervical cap to protect my cervix (reserving wearing an Oves or a latex Reflexions diaphragm for when I’m playing with a man or sperm-bank semen) should Anya blow or force compressed gas into my vagina during play. Anya also wears a FemCap to protect herself for the same reason when we play. Too, a FemCap can be worn down to a depth of 25 to 30 feet w/o discomfort (due to squeeze) to prevent water being forced into the vagina if we are using dildos during dive-sex. Also FemCap can be used as a thrust-buffer as the removal strap acts to prevent a dildo from ramming the cervix by distributing the force of the blow to the vaginal walls and fornices leaving the cervix under a correctly sized FemCap untouched.

For contraceptive protection Anya has switched to Nexplanon (the single rod upper arm implant which releases etonogestrel) which given her job is a better option than an IUD and she is getting along well on that progestin as it has caused amenorrhea (her periods have stopped) and she hasn’t any other side effects like affecting her libido which is wonderful.  She likes to breast feed and is a very gentle when she milks me, but can be delightfully rough if I want her to gently bite my nipples. She loves having me manipulate her G-spot and the shaft of her clitoris with my rubber gloved fingers. She has a wonderfully strong pelvic grip so during her vaginal contractions her grip on my gloved fingers can be uncomfortable.

We both wear latex exam gloves for vaginal play since neither of us are allergic to latex and the heat transfer properties are superior to nitrile gloves. We wear gloves because even though our nails are short and we wash our hands wearing latex gloves minimizes the possibility of small vaginal tears from our nails while fingering the G-spot and cervix by allowing gentle use the hard fore-edge of the nail for stimulation.

Playing with sperm-bank semen: For times when no suitable men are available I like to keep a few vials of high quality semen in cryo-storage - in a liquid nitrogen cryo-vault - to play with when I’m follicular and fertile as I feel adding a bit of pregnancy risk to a girl-girl encounter always gets me quickly aroused by heightening the chance of unintended consequences from the encounter.  Now that my clinic has a sperm bank I can get sperm to play with at wholesale prices rather than the retail rate I paid when I was in Nevada. So a few days ago – when I was fertile - Anya filled me with a vial of sperm-bank semen delivered from a dildo with a spring loaded syringe that was triggered by my contractions when I orgasmed. For that I wore an Oves as I love the fantasy of an unintended pregnancy, but I try my best to avoid it.