Aa
African American Women and HIV
Hey there,
I've been reading the archives and you say that HIV is hard too aquire. But, ever since I was a little girl, the church and our parents say that those who engage in unprotected sex are bound to catch this horrible disease. The news and sex education force and individual to think that HIV is very rampant. That is probably why is I was so scared after having sex for the first time and it was unprotected. My question to you, is why do you think African American women are becoming one the highest populations in the United States to become infected? This information has been on the news, CDC, and Oprah. It would just be nice to hear an opinion. You have done so much work with STD prevention. I am also thankful my test was negative after 35 days, Ihope it stays that way when I go to be retested in four weeks.
I've been reading the archives and you say that HIV is hard too aquire. But, ever since I was a little girl, the church and our parents say that those who engage in unprotected sex are bound to catch this horrible disease. The news and sex education force and individual to think that HIV is very rampant. That is probably why is I was so scared after having sex for the first time and it was unprotected. My question to you, is why do you think African American women are becoming one the highest populations in the United States to become infected? This information has been on the news, CDC, and Oprah. It would just be nice to hear an opinion. You have done so much work with STD prevention. I am also thankful my test was negative after 35 days, Ihope it stays that way when I go to be retested in four weeks.
You have a keen sense of humor and your comments were straight foward and made me laugh. I guess I will do my laundry and get tested once a year.
Can we please just commit to a simple motto:
Everyone should practice safe sex, regardless of what race/gender/orientation they are.
And everyone who's had unsafe sex capable of transmitting HIV (for instance, vaginal or anal sex regardless of race/gender/orientation) should get a blood test after a reasonable window period.
Maybe there is a point to urging African American women to be extra-cautious about screening their sex partners, but since the problem has (supposedly) been linked to certain men being closeted (and how do we know they're closeted if someone closeted will probably be least open with a stranger from the county health department asking intrusive questions?), screening doesn't seem to serve much of a purpose since a closeted bisexual won't tell a woman whom he wants to sleep with, that he's had sex with men (what better way not to get laid?) I don't understand these loopholes and provisoes, and why someone straight, by virtue of his/her straightness, has chances of getting infected lower than being struck by lightning, "unless" they are black women, or men who sleep with women who sleep with men who sleep with men, etc, etc, etc.... Folks, you can't apply global statistics to an individual's odds. It doesn't make sense, especially since there are hundreds of thousands of straight women with HIV, plentiful straight men with HIV from IV drug use, and plentiful men (both bi and straight) who got HIV from women! Obviously -- here's a no-brainer -- someone at risk of HIV (white, Asian, Latino, Sri Lankan, or Icelandic) will be highly tempted to lie or dodge questions from a prospective partner about his or her HIV risk.
Getting to know people helps a little, but none of us is capable of spying on the people we sleep with 24/7, so a twenty-minute OraQuick test at a free clinic, once a year, is not going to strain us to the point of financial ruin or emotional meltdown. I've had sex with men and women; now my main partner is female and we have sex without condoms but I still get tested every 6 months for good measure. Her race and mine are irrelevant. I love my wife but she has male friends and I do have to leave the house to go to work 5 times a week; rather than placing surveillance cameras at 38 key locations in our apartment, I choose to take my chances and get an HIV checkup in June and January.
And as for these odds that people keep mentioning, my classic example of statistics being meaningless is the blood tests that came back from my wife's OBGYN as part of routine pregnancy tests: With my sexual history of 250+ partners, and my wife's history of 4 sexual partners, and me and my wife having had over 5,000 acts of sexual intercourse, SHE had Herpes II and I DID NOT! The doctor, baffled, said I must have a penis of steel, because the chances of our Herpes results were "rarer than someone winning the lottery." Numbers, schnumbers. Just get tested.
J
PS. Maybe the best way to relax is not to calculate your odds of getting HIV with the hope of finding some mind-blowing low statistics ("getting struck by lightning" or "winning the lotter") but rather to reflect on the fact that people now have medications to prolong their lives on HIV AND there is a good possibility that a cure will come within 15 years to reverse the disease's fatality. Getting HIV would REALLY not be the end of the world, so relax. Go get a test once a year and spend the other 364 days worrying about your laundry.
Everyone should practice safe sex, regardless of what race/gender/orientation they are.
And everyone who's had unsafe sex capable of transmitting HIV (for instance, vaginal or anal sex regardless of race/gender/orientation) should get a blood test after a reasonable window period.
Maybe there is a point to urging African American women to be extra-cautious about screening their sex partners, but since the problem has (supposedly) been linked to certain men being closeted (and how do we know they're closeted if someone closeted will probably be least open with a stranger from the county health department asking intrusive questions?), screening doesn't seem to serve much of a purpose since a closeted bisexual won't tell a woman whom he wants to sleep with, that he's had sex with men (what better way not to get laid?) I don't understand these loopholes and provisoes, and why someone straight, by virtue of his/her straightness, has chances of getting infected lower than being struck by lightning, "unless" they are black women, or men who sleep with women who sleep with men who sleep with men, etc, etc, etc.... Folks, you can't apply global statistics to an individual's odds. It doesn't make sense, especially since there are hundreds of thousands of straight women with HIV, plentiful straight men with HIV from IV drug use, and plentiful men (both bi and straight) who got HIV from women! Obviously -- here's a no-brainer -- someone at risk of HIV (white, Asian, Latino, Sri Lankan, or Icelandic) will be highly tempted to lie or dodge questions from a prospective partner about his or her HIV risk.
Getting to know people helps a little, but none of us is capable of spying on the people we sleep with 24/7, so a twenty-minute OraQuick test at a free clinic, once a year, is not going to strain us to the point of financial ruin or emotional meltdown. I've had sex with men and women; now my main partner is female and we have sex without condoms but I still get tested every 6 months for good measure. Her race and mine are irrelevant. I love my wife but she has male friends and I do have to leave the house to go to work 5 times a week; rather than placing surveillance cameras at 38 key locations in our apartment, I choose to take my chances and get an HIV checkup in June and January.
And as for these odds that people keep mentioning, my classic example of statistics being meaningless is the blood tests that came back from my wife's OBGYN as part of routine pregnancy tests: With my sexual history of 250+ partners, and my wife's history of 4 sexual partners, and me and my wife having had over 5,000 acts of sexual intercourse, SHE had Herpes II and I DID NOT! The doctor, baffled, said I must have a penis of steel, because the chances of our Herpes results were "rarer than someone winning the lottery." Numbers, schnumbers. Just get tested.
J
PS. Maybe the best way to relax is not to calculate your odds of getting HIV with the hope of finding some mind-blowing low statistics ("getting struck by lightning" or "winning the lotter") but rather to reflect on the fact that people now have medications to prolong their lives on HIV AND there is a good possibility that a cure will come within 15 years to reverse the disease's fatality. Getting HIV would REALLY not be the end of the world, so relax. Go get a test once a year and spend the other 364 days worrying about your laundry.
I live in Colorado. I am somewhat reluctant to go back to the doctor because I am frightened. My ears still hurt, I have a runny nose, and when on ear drains, the opposite lymph node starts to swell and the other ear fills with liquid. I keep looking on the internet and having bad dreams about being infected with HIV. I truly feel my life is over, but doctor I will take your adivce and return. Thank you for answering my response. If you have not been told, you are doing a great service to everyone in this forum, and you are right about questioning someone's sexual past. I am praying that it is my anxiety causing my fears and not HIV, but the only way to know is to test.
I just wanted to say I was in the same situation and was very concerned about HIV. I had unprotected sex with a women who I later learned to be very promiscuous. I was tested at 7 and 9 weeks and both were negative. I am going in for a 12 week test very soon but I just wanted to say don't let this ruin your daily life, I let it happen to me and it stopped me from going to class for a coulpe of weeks. I understand it's quite hard to do this but you have to look at it like this....your first test was negatve so you're not infected, try not to think of the worst and just think of that first test! NEGATIVE! Good luck and I wish the best for you.
Maybe your classes are getting to you. Years ago I took a course on disease in history, and we did nothing but talk about obscure, scary infections and diseases. You'd go home thinking you had ebola - quite a feat considering we were in Ohio at the time, lol :-)
But seriously, it really sounds like your anxiety has got the best of you, and I think counseling is in order to help you get your life back together. As a student, you likely have a counseling center right on campus. Make an appointment.
But seriously, it really sounds like your anxiety has got the best of you, and I think counseling is in order to help you get your life back together. As a student, you likely have a counseling center right on campus. Make an appointment.
I'm in the same boat as the last poster. Anxiety sucks. It just so happened that this "scare" started just as I was beginning some very hard medical courses at school. Anyone who has taken medical classes knows you need to be very focused, and my mind has just been too wrapped up in this scare..to the point that I even had to drop a class. Other grades are suffering as well. Contact with friends/family has been nearly non existent, and I've turned into quite an alcoholic. Needless to say, I'm ready to get past this..and plan on not ever putting myself in position to go thru this ever again. Best of luck to all of you.
I think it's a combination of a lot of things..rise in drug use, lack of affordability of health insurance and quality healthcare, and an overall "arrogance" that we tend to have as a race sometimes with regards to diseases (ex. thinking we're "immune" to it, it'll never happen to us.) I've done tons of online research, and yes the numbers are rather disproportionate. For example, GH (HSV 2) is only present in about 20% of caucasians, but it's estimated that 65% of us (African Americans) carry the disease. I'm currently going thru a helluva scare myself. Going to get tested, and in the event that I am ok I'm definitely going to change some habits. Something has to be done. We're killing ourselves. Out of curiousity, Ms. S.C.R.E.A.M., what state are you in (if you dont mind me asking)?
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
I'm glad your test was negative; congratulations. At 37 days, you can be highly confident in the results, but I agree a final test in another 4 weeks is a good idea.
It is true that African Americans in general are at higher risk for HIV (and all other STDs) than other racial groups in the US. The reasons are complex and not fully understood, except we know for sure that race per se is not the reason. It has more to do with patterns of sexual behavior, partner selection, and so on. Also, there are higher rates of injection drug use; and among black men who have sex with other men, more are deeply closeted than are white or Asian gay men. This leads to more secrecy, more infected men, who in turn are more likely to infect their female partners. There is a viscious cycle with STDs: the higher STD rates in blacks than other groups fuel still higher HIV rates. There probably are other, more complex factors as well.
For AA women, the bottom line is that you need to be especially careful that you know your partner(s) well before having sex, and use condoms if there is any doubt about your partner's sexual safety or lifestyle.
Good luck-- HHH, MD
It is true that African Americans in general are at higher risk for HIV (and all other STDs) than other racial groups in the US. The reasons are complex and not fully understood, except we know for sure that race per se is not the reason. It has more to do with patterns of sexual behavior, partner selection, and so on. Also, there are higher rates of injection drug use; and among black men who have sex with other men, more are deeply closeted than are white or Asian gay men. This leads to more secrecy, more infected men, who in turn are more likely to infect their female partners. There is a viscious cycle with STDs: the higher STD rates in blacks than other groups fuel still higher HIV rates. There probably are other, more complex factors as well.
For AA women, the bottom line is that you need to be especially careful that you know your partner(s) well before having sex, and use condoms if there is any doubt about your partner's sexual safety or lifestyle.
Good luck-- HHH, MD
You are reading content posted in the STDs Forum
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Millions of people are diagnosed with STDs in the U.S. each year.
STDs can't be transmitted by casual contact, like hugging or touching.
Syphilis is an STD that is transmitted by oral, genital and anal sex.
