Is It True That Gay Men Are More At Risk For Hiv Than Other People
Although anyone can be at risk for HIV, some people can be more at risk depending upon the types of sexual practices and drug use they are engaging in. Being gay does not necessarily mean you are at higher risk, but certain activities gay men sometimes participate in might put them at greater risk. Overall, the gay male population in Canada has higher rates of HIV infection than some other populations. Stigma and homophobia can affect a person’s ability to access information about safer sex specifically for gay men.
When Is The Risk Greater
These risk factors can increase the chances for transmission of HIV:
- Status: Risk varies based on whether the person with HIV is giving or receiving oral sex. If the person with HIV is receiving oral sex, the person giving it may have a higher risk. Mouths may have more openings in the skin or lesions. Saliva, on the other hand, is not a carrier of the virus.
- Viral load: The risk of contracting HIV is higher if the person with HIV has a high viral load. Higher viral loads increase infectivity.
- Ejaculation: During oral sex, ejaculation may increase risk for sharing the virus, but ejaculation alone isnt the only possible way of contracting HIV.
- Cuts or sores: Openings in the mouth, vagina, anus, or on the penis are possible routes for HIV. These may be cuts or lesions from another infection or condition. For example, HIV-related infections like candidiasis can cause sores that compromise the integrity of the tissue in the mouth. Any break in the skin puts a person at risk for transmitting or contracting the virus.
- Menstruation: HIV-bearing cells do shed from the cervix during menstruation. Coming into contact with menstrual blood with the mouth may increase contraction risk.
- Urethritis: This condition causes inflammation and irritation in the urethra. It may increase the chances of HIV contraction, too. People with HIV are likely to shed the virus when they have this condition.
No 2 Having Anal Sex : 1 In 72
The receptive partner is 13 times more likely to be infected with HIV than the insertive partner, according to the CDC. Thats because the virus found in blood, semen, preseminal fluid , and rectal fluids can more easily enter the receptive persons body through the thin lining of the rectum.
- Reduce the risk. If the insertive partner has HIV, using a condom during receptive anal sex can help reduce the risk of transmission by an average of 72 percent, according to the CDC. Water- or silicone-based lubricants can help lessen the chance that the condom will break.
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No Contraceptive Method Can Give You 100 Percent Protection Against Hiv
Written by Tania Tarafdar | Updated : November 28, 2017 10:47 AM IST
You should know that there is no contraception method that is 100 percent safe and prevent pregnancy or AIDS and condoms cannot guarantee protection either. According to sexologist Dr. V Raina, there is always a risk of transmission when you have sex with an HIV-positive person. While wearing a condom can reduce your chances of contracting STD, any condom failure like a breakage or a tear will only have you contracting HIV.
There are few reasons why a condom failure happens, the most common ones being wearing the wrong size condom or wearing it the wrong way. Apart from this, lack of lubrication in the vaginal area, using a condom that is way past its expiry date and using wrong lubricants can also lead to a tear. However, the way you wear it makes the most difference. So, be careful while wearing the condom. If you have taken care of the other parameters then you can minimise the risk by wearing it the right way. Here are diseases that affect people with HIV.
The same applies even if you are having oral sex. If there is a condom breakage and you have an open cut or lesion in your mouth, you may contract the disease.
How Do You Get Hiv From Sex
HIV is transmitted through semen , vaginal fluid, blood, and anal mucus. During sex without a condom the bodily fluids from one person can pass into the body of their sexual partner. This can happen through the mucous membranes of the penis, vagina and rectum, or sores in the mouth and throat.
You can only get HIV from someone who is living with HIV and has a detectable viral load.
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Is It True That A Man Can Only Get Hiv From Having Sex With Another Man
By | Oct. 14, 2010, 11:53 a.m.
Category:
Is it true that a man can only get HIV/AIDS from having sexual intercourse with another man and not from having sex with a woman?
No, thats not true. A person can get HIV by having unprotected sex with an infected partner whether that partner is a woman or a man. Unprotected anal and vaginal intercourse are higher risk than unprotected oral sex.
These are the other ways a person can get HIV:
- sharing needles or syringes with someone who has the virus
- getting HIV-infected blood, semen, or vaginal secretions into open wounds or sores
- being deeply punctured with a needle or surgical instrument contaminated with the virus
HIV can also be passed from a woman to her fetus during pregnancy or birth.
These are the ways to reduce the risk of passing HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections:
- Keep your partners body fluids out of your body vagina, anus, or mouth. The body fluids to be most careful about are blood, ejaculate, pre-ejaculate, vaginal fluids, and the discharge from sores caused by sexually transmitted infections.
- Dont touch sores or growths that are caused by sexually transmitted infections.
- Use latex or internal condoms because they are effective barriers.
- Dont mix drugs or alcohol with sex their use can encourage people to take risks they wouldnt take if they werent high.
Tags: STDs, HIV/AIDS, safer sex
Contaminated Blood Transfusions And Organ/tissue Transplants
- receiving blood transfusions, blood products, or organ/tissue transplants that are contaminated with HIV. This risk is extremely small because most countries test blood products for HIV first.
If adequate safety practices are not in place, healthcare workers can also be at risk of HIV from cuts made by a needle or sharp object with infected blood on it. However, the risk of occupational exposure, is very low in most countries.
If you think you have been exposed to HIV, the only way to find out if you have HIV is to have an HIV test.
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How Can A Woman Reduce Her Chances Of Contracting Hiv
HIV is transmitted through bodily fluids like blood and semen. Using injection drugs, having unprotected sex and having multiple sex partners increases the chances of acquiring HIV. The only way to be absolutely certain you do not become infected with HIV is to not have sex and not use injection drugs. You also can avoid infection by only having one sex partner as long as your partner does not have HIV and has sex only with you. According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention , using a male or female condom every time you have vaginal or anal sex can greatly lower your risk of infection. Using condoms for oral sex will reduce your risk for other STDs as well. It also is important not to douche, since douching removes some of the normal vaginal bacteria that can protect you from infection.
Is Deep Kissing A Route Of Hiv Transmission
Deep or open-mouthed kissing is a very low risk activity in terms of HIV transmission. HIV is only present in saliva in very minute amounts, insufficient to cause infection with HIV. There has been only one documented case of someone becoming infected with HIV through kissing a result of exposure to infected blood during open-mouthed kissing. If you or your partner have blood in your mouth, you should avoid kissing until the bleeding stops.
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Stay On Top Of Medications Including Art Prep And Pep
There are a few medications available that can help prevent the transmission of HIV:
- ART. A person living with HIV may take medication known as ART to help them stay healthy and prevent the transmission of HIV. Most people who take it as prescribed can lower their viral load to an undetectable level.
- PrEP. Short for pre-exposure prophylaxis, PrEP is a drug that someone who is HIV-negative can take to lower the risk of contracting HIV by as much as 99 percent .
- PEP.Post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP, is a drug regimen that can help reduce the risk of HIV after a possible exposure when started within 72 hours.
Viral Load & Medications
If someone has HIV, this does not mean that they are restricted to celibacy. Many people with HIV still continue to have safe, enjoyable sex lives without spreading the virus. Always using a condom or barrier method is an important first step to prevent the sharing of HIV containing fluids.
Antiretroviral therapy : Another way to help decrease the risk of spreading HIV is to lower a personâs viral loadâthe amount of HIV in a personâs blood. Viral loads can be lowered using medications called antiretroviral therapy . These medications can lower the HIV viral load so much that HIV may not even be detectable on a blood testâthis is called an undetectable viral load . When a person’s viral load in undetectable, they have effectively no risk of transmitting the HIV virus to a non-infected partner . Taking these medication will help keep a person with HIV healthy while also helping prevent the spread of HIV to another person. This is not a cure, however. If medication is taken incorrectly or stopped, HIV viral loads will increase again and transmission can occur. Condoms and other barrier methods should still always be used during sex .
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Hiv And Maternal Transmission
HIV can be passed from mother to child during pregnancy, delivery, or through breastfeeding. If left untreated throughout these stages, there is a 15-45% chance of an HIV positive mother transmitting the virus to their child . However there are treatment options to prevent this from happening.
If pregnancy occurs and there has been potential HIV exposure, ask a healthcare provider about getting tested for HIV as early as possible. Taking medications called antiretroviral therapy as prescribed can reduce the viral load so that the baby has a very low chance of contracting HIV .
A person with HIV should not breastfeed their child, as breast milk can transmit HIV. Even if a person is taking ART and their viral loads are undetectable, they should still not breastfeed.
What We Know About Kissing
Theres no chance of getting HIV from closed-mouth or social kissing, and you cant get HIV through saliva. In some very rare cases, people have gotten HIV from deep, open-mouth French kissing because they and their partners had blood in their mouths from bleeding gums or sores . But the chance of getting HIV from deep, open-mouth kissing is much lower than from most other sexual activities.
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I Have Hiv How Can I Prevent Passing Hiv To Others
Take HIV medicines daily. Treatment with HIV medicines helps people with HIV live longer, healthier lives. One of the goals of ART is to reduce a person’s viral load to an undetectable level. An undetectable viral load means that the level of HIV in the blood is too low to be detected by a viral load test. People with HIV who maintain an undetectable viral load have effectively no risk of transmitting HIV to their HIV-negative partner through sex.
If your viral load is not undetectableâor does not stay undetectableâyou can still protect your partner from HIV by using condoms and choosing less risky sexual behaviors. Your partner can take medicine to prevent getting HIV, which is called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. PrEP is an HIV prevention option for people who don’t have HIV but who are at risk of getting HIV. PrEP involves taking a specific HIV medicine every day to reduce the risk of getting HIV through sex or injection drug use. To learn more, read the Clinicalinfo Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis fact sheet.
Can I Transmit Hiv To My Baby During Pregnancy Or Breastfeeding
An HIV-infected pregnant woman can pass the virus on to her unborn baby either before or during birth. HIV can also be passed on during breastfeeding. If a woman knows that she is infected with HIV, there are drugs she can take to greatly reduce the chances of her child becoming infected. Other ways to lower the risk include choosing to have a caesarean section delivery and not breastfeeding.
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How You Become Infected
There is HIV virus in body fluids like vaginal secretions and semen. If those fluids are present, they can enter the bloodstream of someone who doesn’t have HIV through an opening such as a mouth sore or a genital ulcer.
Your chances are higher of getting HIV if you:
- Have sores in your mouth, vagina, or penis
- Have another sexually transmitted disease
How Safe Is Oral Sex
Although it is possible to become infected with HIV through oral sex, the risk of becoming infected in this way is much lower than the risk of infection via unprotected sexual intercourse with a man or woman.When giving oral sex to a man a person could become infected with HIV if infected semen came into contact with damaged and receding gums, or any cuts or sores they might have in their mouth.
Giving oral sex to a woman is also considered relatively low risk. Transmission could take place if infected sexual fluids from a woman got into the mouth of her partner. The likelihood of infection might be increased if there is menstrual blood involved or if the woman is infected with another sexually transmitted disease.
The likelihood of either a man or a woman becoming infected with HIV as a result of receiving oral sex is extremely low, as saliva does not contain infectious quantities of HIV.
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Condom Effectiveness For Men Who Say They Always Use Condoms
The estimated effectiveness of condom use for gay men with HIV-positive partners is 70%but only for those who report always using condoms. This is pretty good protection from HIVand certainly less robust protection than that offered by PrEP when taken daily.
This is estimate is slightly less than the effectiveness reported for heterosexuals who always use condoms .
Whats The Risk For Types Of Oral Sex
Oral sex ranks very low on the list of ways HIV can be transmitted. Its more likely to transmit HIV through anal or vaginal sex. Its also possible to transmit the virus by sharing needles or syringes used for injecting drugs or tattooing.
However, the risk of contracting HIV through oral sex is not zero. The truth is, you can in theory still contract HIV this way. Theres just been from years of research to show that it has happened.
Why is it hard to get data?
Its difficult to know the absolute risk of transmitting HIV during oral sex acts. Thats because many sex partners who engage in oral sex of any type also engage in vaginal or anal sex. It may be difficult to know where the transmission occurred.
Fellatio carries some risk, but its low.
- If youre giving a blowjob. Receptive oral sex with a male partner who has HIV is considered exceptionally low-risk. In fact, a 2002 study found that the risk for HIV transmission through receptive oral sex was statistically zero.
- If youre receiving a blowjob. Insertive oral sex is an unlikely method of transmission, too. Enzymes in the saliva neutralize many viral particles. This may be true even if the saliva contains blood.
There are no documented cases of HIV being transmitted between partners through cunnilingus .
Anilingus , or rimming, has some risk, but it is negligible. Its especially low for receptive partners. In fact, the lifetime risk of transmitting HIV during rimming is
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Do You Have To Wait Until Your Viral Load Is Undetectable
No, again.
Although having undetectable HIV can help ease any concerns, you dont need to swear off sexual activity entirely while waiting for your treatment to take effect.
As long as you take precautions and both parties are comfortable with it, that is.
within 1 to 6 months of starting treatment with antiretroviral therapy when taken as prescribed.
Six months can feel like a lifetime when youre jonesing for some good lovin. There are plenty of lower-risk and oh-so pleasurable ways you can get off with a partner or solo to hold you over in the meantime.
Touching, kissing, and oral sex carry little to no risk for HIV transmission. Here are some ideas to help you get your fix:
I Had Unprotected Anal Sex What Are The Chances Of Having Hiv
By | June 28, 2011, 9:41 p.m.
Category:
I had unprotected anal sex with another man for the first time in over a year. We were versatile and used a lot of lube. I asked him about his HIV status and he said he was negative but, Im still not sure. He precummed and cummed outside of my body well after anal sex but, still precum may have gotten inside of me at some point, Im not sure. What are the chances of having HIV? Im still getting tested but, this happened just a week ago.
Like unprotected vaginal sex, unprotected anal sex is high risk for many sexually transmitted infections, such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, herpes, hepatitis, HIV, and syphilis. While many of these can be diagnosed immediately by getting tested, it generally takes at least three months for HIV antibodies to show up on a test.
The fact that your partner ejaculated outside of your body decreases the chance of HIV transmission, but its impossible for us to tell you what the chances are that you contracted HIV. The only way you can know that is by getting tested.
Its important to remember that about one out of three people will lie about their infection status in order to have sex, so always protect yourself and use a condom whether or not partners say they are negative.
Good luck with your test.
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