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Staggeringly Low HIV Transmission Rates--Sex Worker Intercourse
Hello. First, let me comment that you are doing amazing work, and that this site, and the internet in general have been unbelievably helpful in providing me with real, and much needed, information after a potential exposure to HIV and other STDs after condom failure. I have read all of the related threads, and they answer my questions around how "at risk" I am, and I do understand it is roughly 1 in 1000, provided my partner was confirmed HIV+. Since her status is unknnown, I believe that my "odds" are slightly better. My question is...How is it possible that HIV transmission occurs in so few instances? I recall a 2004 story focused on the Adult Entertainment industry where a HIV+ male engaged in intercourse with 13 females. Of the 13, three contracted HIV. That transmission rate is more like 23% and not <0.1%. Any thoughts.
Naturally, 9 Days after my exposure I have a cold, and night sweats which I am attributing to ARS/HIV. Human nature I guess.
Naturally, 9 Days after my exposure I have a cold, and night sweats which I am attributing to ARS/HIV. Human nature I guess.
1 in 1000 does not mean that you get to have sex 1,000 before being infected.
The statistics given by the CDC are to be read as "relative risks." For example, a needle stick exposure is estimated to be a 1 in 300 risk for infection. Insertive oral is estimated as 1 in 20,000. Insertive Vaginal...say 1 in 1,000.
The purpose of these figures, I believe, are to show relative risk. Thus, we can conclude that you have a greater chance of contracting HIV through a needle stick injury (tained with HIV-postive blood) than you do through insertive oral.
The statitics do not give you immunity to go out and have sex with 1,000. Although one unprotected sexual intercourse incident is relatively low-risk, keep in mind that everyone who has been infected with HIV via sex was infected by ONE specific sex act.
Before everyone freaks out with this previous statement, I am not saying that you will be infected after one sex act. Read this
The statistics given by the CDC are to be read as "relative risks." For example, a needle stick exposure is estimated to be a 1 in 300 risk for infection. Insertive oral is estimated as 1 in 20,000. Insertive Vaginal...say 1 in 1,000.
The purpose of these figures, I believe, are to show relative risk. Thus, we can conclude that you have a greater chance of contracting HIV through a needle stick injury (tained with HIV-postive blood) than you do through insertive oral.
The statitics do not give you immunity to go out and have sex with 1,000. Although one unprotected sexual intercourse incident is relatively low-risk, keep in mind that everyone who has been infected with HIV via sex was infected by ONE specific sex act.
Before everyone freaks out with this previous statement, I am not saying that you will be infected after one sex act. Read this
Hi,
On this forum we need to strike a balance between reassuring people and giving them relevant information that may do the opposite (possibly alarm them). I know I've posted a few times about the problem of recent infections, knowing that some men may become alarmed to know that the odds increase from 1 in 1000 to as high as 1 in 10 if the woman you sleep with was herself infected within about 1-3 weeks before sleeping with you. I have tried to couch the information delicately so people do not run wild with their fearful imaginations. But it is important to know.
I've also posted the CDC figures on new infections in the US a few times because those are relevant, even though it may alarm some men to know that 1 in 9 new HIV infections were cases where men got the virus from vaginal sex with a woman, and 1 in 3 new infections resulted from heterosexual sex in general. Considering that there are about 44,000 new infections every year and over 1 million HIV+ people in the US, 1 in 9 is NOT a small percentage.
I sympathize with Dr. H because he has to field these high-stress questions from hyperanxious men every day, and he probably wants to avoid escalations like the kind we saw, a few weeks back, with Mackia. He does an excellent job. The only concern I have with the forum (not necessarily with Dr. H) is that sometimes, in order to calm down people who are freaking out, we present some misleading points about the risk to heterosexual men.
This is not a criticism by any means, but keep in mind where Dr. H is coming from and where he gets his statistical perspective. He is valiantly leading the fight against HIV and focusing his energies on the populations where the spread is deadliest and fastest -- gay males. He is a professor at the University of Washington and sees patients at an urban STD clinic in Seattle, Washington, on the West Coast, a blue state where there is a high concentration of gay men and a thriving underground sex scene full of reckless sex and designer drugs. His experience is heavily weighted toward a climate where gay men pose the highest risk, and few straight men will be turning up positive unless they injected IV drugs. But Seattle is not necessarily typical, and HIV is spreading rapidly through places like the Southern red states where, for religious reasons, discussion about STDs is kept to a minimum, there are few vibrant gay communities, and the majority of reckless sex takes place between men and women. Straight men in many of these milieus will not seek HIV testing as openly as gay men in large cities will. Dr. H is obviously going to be most worried about the spread of HIV and other STDs among the high risk groups that he sees. But don't confuse relative and absolute risk. Straight men are being infected at a slower pace than gay men and straight women, but they are being infected.
The bottom line remains: Straight men have to use condoms with partners of uncertain status and need to limit their number of partners. If they fear they have been infected, they need to remain calm and determine their status through a blood test, not through self-diagnosis of symptoms.
J
On this forum we need to strike a balance between reassuring people and giving them relevant information that may do the opposite (possibly alarm them). I know I've posted a few times about the problem of recent infections, knowing that some men may become alarmed to know that the odds increase from 1 in 1000 to as high as 1 in 10 if the woman you sleep with was herself infected within about 1-3 weeks before sleeping with you. I have tried to couch the information delicately so people do not run wild with their fearful imaginations. But it is important to know.
I've also posted the CDC figures on new infections in the US a few times because those are relevant, even though it may alarm some men to know that 1 in 9 new HIV infections were cases where men got the virus from vaginal sex with a woman, and 1 in 3 new infections resulted from heterosexual sex in general. Considering that there are about 44,000 new infections every year and over 1 million HIV+ people in the US, 1 in 9 is NOT a small percentage.
I sympathize with Dr. H because he has to field these high-stress questions from hyperanxious men every day, and he probably wants to avoid escalations like the kind we saw, a few weeks back, with Mackia. He does an excellent job. The only concern I have with the forum (not necessarily with Dr. H) is that sometimes, in order to calm down people who are freaking out, we present some misleading points about the risk to heterosexual men.
This is not a criticism by any means, but keep in mind where Dr. H is coming from and where he gets his statistical perspective. He is valiantly leading the fight against HIV and focusing his energies on the populations where the spread is deadliest and fastest -- gay males. He is a professor at the University of Washington and sees patients at an urban STD clinic in Seattle, Washington, on the West Coast, a blue state where there is a high concentration of gay men and a thriving underground sex scene full of reckless sex and designer drugs. His experience is heavily weighted toward a climate where gay men pose the highest risk, and few straight men will be turning up positive unless they injected IV drugs. But Seattle is not necessarily typical, and HIV is spreading rapidly through places like the Southern red states where, for religious reasons, discussion about STDs is kept to a minimum, there are few vibrant gay communities, and the majority of reckless sex takes place between men and women. Straight men in many of these milieus will not seek HIV testing as openly as gay men in large cities will. Dr. H is obviously going to be most worried about the spread of HIV and other STDs among the high risk groups that he sees. But don't confuse relative and absolute risk. Straight men are being infected at a slower pace than gay men and straight women, but they are being infected.
The bottom line remains: Straight men have to use condoms with partners of uncertain status and need to limit their number of partners. If they fear they have been infected, they need to remain calm and determine their status through a blood test, not through self-diagnosis of symptoms.
J
It's a testing site. LabCorp runs the exam.
BTW, you are FREE to choose any testing site you want. I'm just telling you which one I chose.
BTW, you are FREE to choose any testing site you want. I'm just telling you which one I chose.
Anal sex is the most risky of the lot. The transmission is 1 in 4 if the giver has HIV with no protection (From what I have read). Thats why quite a few women are getting HIV.
Read this site page: It has a great detail of information that appears to be taken directly from published articles. Its even written by "liberated Christians" and is actually very well balanced. It will answer a lot of questions.
http://www.libchrist.com/std/facts.html
Its the best laymans guide I have read...(no pun intended!).
Read this site page: It has a great detail of information that appears to be taken directly from published articles. Its even written by "liberated Christians" and is actually very well balanced. It will answer a lot of questions.
http://www.libchrist.com/std/facts.html
Its the best laymans guide I have read...(no pun intended!).
I see you are worried about your symptoms. One of them being night sweats. Many people feel that if they have a bit of sweat on their neck or in their groin, or maybe in their arm pit region, this is considered "night sweats". Night sweats are defined as drenching sweats that soak clothes, bedsheets, and come with high fever/body temps. And even if one did have night sweats, such as i have described, there are many other causes for them, and the same goes for the other symptoms you describe. You must understand, this time of the year, people get sick, flu, common cold, ect. Dont try and associate your symptoms with an STD, your gonna die worrying about it. In the end im sure you'll be ok. Dont get over worried about symptoms, they mean nothing. Tests are the determining factor. Good luck to you.
It might be looking at potential exposure, but I think the more practical use of the stats is to help people determine their relative risks. Thus, I know that I am more at risk of being HIV-infected if I engaged in unprotected anal sex than in insertive oral.
Like I said in my past comment, please do not take these statistics as a license to have sex with a 1,000 people unprotected thinking you only have a 1 in 1,000 chance of being infected. The risk is per episode, and I'll say it again: notwithstanding the statistics, everyone who has been infect with HIV via sex was infected via "one specific sexual episode."
Like I said in my past comment, please do not take these statistics as a license to have sex with a 1,000 people unprotected thinking you only have a 1 in 1,000 chance of being infected. The risk is per episode, and I'll say it again: notwithstanding the statistics, everyone who has been infect with HIV via sex was infected via "one specific sexual episode."
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.
