Myth : Theres No Treatment For Hiv
Sure, the early days of HIV and AIDS were grim, just given how little people knew about the virus and the condition.
But treatment has come a long way since the 80s. Today, antiretroviral medications can greatly reduce the amount of the virus in a persons body, often to the point that HIV no longer shows up on blood tests.
When that happens, the person has effectively no risk of transmitting HIV to others. Plus, it helps prevent HIV from progressing.
Is Hiv Transmitted Through Kissing What You Should Know
Kissing, such as saliva.There are no reported cases of HIV transmission through kissing, and cooking your food thoroughly.Click to view0:47Emorys Dr, throat or urethral infections or aCan I get HIV from kissing?Can I get HIV from kissing? Casual contact through closed-mouth or social kissing is not a risk for transmission of HIV,Date: February 21, semen and vaginal fluids, HIV cannot survive in saliva, However, washing your hands well and often, and although some local legends abound about getting the Aids virus with kissing an infected person on the cheek, However, Blood, wet kissing, Only one cell type found in the mouth is vulnerable to HIV infection .
Effective Barriers Against Hiv
There are many effective barriers that prevent infection.
Skin: Skin is an excellent barrier against HIV, unless there is an open cut or open wound. Infectious fluid on skin is NOT a route for infection.
Mucous membranes in the mouth, throat and stomach: These membranes are good barriers against HIV infection, so long as there are not cuts, ulcers or sores.
Saliva: Saliva contains proteins and a low salt content that actively reduce its infectiousness. Even when HIV is detected there is too little to cause infection. HIV is not transmitted by kissing including deep kissing. Spit cannot transmit HIV.
Air: HIV is not transmitted by air.
Latex and rubber: Condoms prevent infection from HIV and many other sexually transmitted infections.
Many sexual situations have no risk of transmitting HIV.
These include masturbation , kissing and deep kissing, receiving oral sex and vaginal or anal sex using a condom correctly.
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Can I Become Infected With Hiv If I Inject Drugs And Share The Needles With Someone Else Without Sterilizing The Needles
We strongly recommend that you use new equipment every time you inject. You can get new equipment from Counterpoint Needle & Syringe Program at Regional HIV/AIDS Connection.
There is a possibility of becoming infected with HIV if you share injecting equipment with someone who has the virus. If HIV infected blood remains inside the needle or in the syringe and someone else then uses it to inject themselves, that blood can be flushed into the bloodstream. Sharing needles, syringes, spoons, filters or water can pass on the virus. Disinfecting equipment between uses can reduce the likelihood of transmission, but does not eliminate it.
Its Easy To Tell The Symptoms Of Hiv
The symptoms of HIV can differ from person-to-person and some people may not get any symptoms at all. Without treatment, the virus will get worse over time and damage your immune system over time. There are three stages of HIV infection with different possible effects.
Also, you also cant tell by looking at someone whether they have HIV or not. Many people don’t show signs of any symptoms. And, for people living with HIV who are on effective treatment, they are just as likely to be as healthy as everyone else.
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What Are The Chances Of Getting Hiv Through Kissing And Oral Sex
Not as much is known about the potential risk of getting HIV through oral intercourse, Henderson says. The CDC considers oral intercourse to be a low-risk behavior regarding HIV, though the presence of another STD may increase the risk of transmission. The risk is also greater if the person performing oral sex has mouth sores, bleeding gums, or comes into contact orally with menstrual blood.
The riskiest form of this behavior is mouth-to-penis oral sex, especially if ejaculation occurs in the mouth, Henderson says. Using a condom or a dental dam may help reduce the risk of HIV transmission in these situations.
Condoms Can Help Protect You
When used correctly and consistently, condoms can decrease the risk of HIV transmission during male-male intercourse, Henderson says. Figures from the CDC indicate that condoms reduce the risk of HIV transmission for the receptive partner by 73 percent, and for the insertive partner by 63 percent.
Using a condom during vaginal intercourse is especially effective at protecting against HIV transmission: When applied and used correctly, condoms can lower a womans risk of infection by 80 to 85 percent. However, given that condoms arent 100 percent effective, the CDC recommends taking additional precautionary steps.
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Sexual Intimacy With An Hiv
When one person contracts HIV, the couples approach to sex, intimacy, and childbearing must change to protect the other.
Sigrid Olsson/Alamy
When one person in a couple is diagnosed with the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, it has a significant effect on the couples romantic relationship theres always a chance that the infected person can transmit HIV to his or her partner.
The most dangerous possibility for HIV transmission occurs when a partner is infected but doesnt know it, says Marilyn Henderson, BSN, RN, the director of the science department at the Medical Institute for Sexual Health in Austin, Texas.
If youre HIV positive, you can help protect your partner from becoming infected while still maintaining a close relationship by putting smart, safer sex practices in place. And with the right precautions, even that most intimate of connections conceiving a child together can safely be accomplished.
Is It Possible To Transmit Hiv Through Saliva
It is only possible to transmit HIV through saliva if there are co-factors such as bleeding gums, throat or urethral infections or a high viral load. Saliva does carry the HIV virus but in such low quantities that it is not possible to pass on the infection through kissing or spitting as long as there are no open sores or bleeding gums which result in the exchange of blood. Even cases involving the transference of HIV through saliva with co-factors are extremely rare. However, infection is possible through oral sex but to a much lower degree than anal or vaginal sex.
High concentrations of HIV are present in blood, vaginal fluid, semen, breast milk and any other body fluids which contain blood. Any exchange of these fluids between an infected and a non-infected person is highly risky. There are very low quantities of HIV in saliva so it is not possible to transmit HIV through saliva alone as, to become infected with the virus, there has to be a sufficient quantity of the virus transferred. There is no transmission risk from kissing unless both partners have severely bleeding gums or large open sores in their mouth. There is no risk from sharing glasses, spitting or sneezing as the virus cannot spread or maintain infectiousness in the open air.
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Can A Man Give Himself Hiv/aids Or Another Sexually Transmitted Infection By Masturbating
The best answer to this question came years ago from one of our longtime experts, the highly respected HIV physician Robert Frascino, M.D.:
No, there is absolutely no chance you can contract a sexually transmitted illness from yourself!
STIs involve germs that spread from an infected person to another person via sexual activity. Masturbation, choking the chicken, spanking the monkey, or whatever you want to call it, involves only you and your hand. Some folks may refer to their hand as Mrs. Palm and her five daughters, but really we are only talking about one person here. And thats you, right?!
A person cannot give himself a disease he doesnt already have. Just as you cant give yourself a million dollars , you cant give yourself HIV, because you dont have that either.
The bottom line is that your jizz is perfectly safe, so no worries unless you spunk up your parents furniture. And even those kinds of stains, although they can lead to problems, they can not lead to STIs, OK?
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Myth : Abstinence And Condoms Are The Only Ways To Prevent Hiv
Abstinence was touted as a go-to way to prevent HIV transmission back in the 80s and 90s. And even today, that potential benefit is used as an argument for abstinence-only sex ed in schools, despite lots of evidence that those programs just dont work.
Not into the idea of a no-sex lifestyle? Condoms are another option. Research suggests they can reduce the risk of HIV transmission by as much as 95 percent every time you do the deed. Thats why condoms have been recommended as an HIV prevention tool for decades.
However, as of 2012, people got a new option for preventing HIV. Thats when the Food and Drug Administration OKd the first pre-exposure prophylaxis .
These meds offer people with known risk factors, like having sex with someone who has HIV or sharing needles for injectable drug use, a way to reduce their risk of contracting HIV by taking one pill per day.
And it works really well. When PrEP is taken as prescribed, it can slash a persons chances of getting HIV through sex by a whopping 99 percent, according to the CDC.
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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.
Can I Get Hiv From A Mosquito
No, it is not possible to get HIV from mosquitoes or other biting and bloodsucking insects. The results of experiments and observations of insect biting behavior indicate that when an insect bites a person, it does not inject its own or a previously bitten persons or animals blood into the next person bitten. Rather, it injects saliva, which acts as a lubricant so the insect can feed efficiently.
Diseases, such as yellow fever and malaria are transmitted through the saliva of specific species of mosquitoes. However, HIV lives for only a short time inside an insect. Unlike organisms that are transmitted via insect bites, HIV does not reproduce in insects. Thus, even if the virus enters a mosquito or another insect, the insect does not become infected and cannot transmit HIV to the next human it bites.
There are several reasons why a mosquito or other insect cannot transmit HIV from one person to another even if there is HIV-infected blood left on its mouth parts: 1) Infected people do not have constantly high levels of HIV in their blood streams. 2) Insect mouth parts retain no blood on their surfaces. 3) Finally, scientists who study insects have determined that biting insects normally do not travel from one person to the next immediately after ingesting blood. Rather, they fly to a resting place to digest the blood meal. Epidemiological studies have shown no relationship at all between HIV and the existence of mosquitos or mosquito bites.
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Can Kissing An Hiv Positive Person Cause An Hiv Infection
No, a person cannot spread HIV through kissing. Although HIV can be present in very small amounts in saliva, there are proteins and enzymes found naturally in saliva which reduce the infectiousness of HIV, making it impossible for the virus to spread through kissing.
HIV can only survive in certain body fluids such as blood, semen, vaginal fluid, anal mucous and breast milk – HIV spreads through the exchange of these bodily fluids. Sexual intercourse, including oral and anal sex, without the use of a condom is the most common way that HIV spreads. HIV can also spread by sharing needles with someone who is infected with the virus, and very rarely it can be passed from an HIV positive pregnant woman to her unborn baby.
If you think you may have been exposed to HIV in the last three days, you should contact our local sexual health clinic immediately to get PEP, that can prevent infection even after exposure, if taken within 72 hours. If you believe the exposure might have happened earlier, make sure to consider the window period before taking an HIV test.
Ways Hiv Can Be Transmitted
How is HIV passed from one person to another?
Most people who get HIV get it through anal or vaginal sex, or sharing needles, syringes, or other drug injection equipment . But there are powerful tools that can help prevent HIV transmission.
Can I get HIV from anal sex?
You can get HIV if you have anal sex with someone who has HIV without using protection .
- Anal sex is the riskiest type of sex for getting or transmitting HIV.
- Being the receptive partner is riskier for getting HIV than being the insertive partner .
- The bottoms risk of getting HIV is very high because the rectums lining is thin and may allow HIV to enter the body during anal sex.
- The top is also at risk because HIV can enter the body through the opening at the tip of the penis , the foreskin if the penis isnt circumcised, or small cuts, scratches, or open sores anywhere on the penis.
Can I get HIV from vaginal sex?
You can get HIV if you have vaginal sex with someone who has HIV without using protection .
Can HIV be transmitted from a mother to her baby?
HIV can be transmitted from a mother to her baby during pregnancy, birth, or breastfeeding. However, it is less common because of advances in HIV prevention and treatment.
Can I get HIV from sharing needles, syringes, or other drug injection equipment?
You are at high risk for getting HIV if you with someone who has HIV. Never share needles or other equipment to inject drugs, hormones, steroids, or silicone.
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Ways Hiv Is Not Transmitted
How well does HIV survive outside the body?
HIV does not survive long outside the human body , and it cannot reproduce outside a human host. It is not transmitted
- Through saliva, tears, or sweat.
- Through other sexual activities that dont involve the exchange of body fluids .
- Through the air.
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Can You Get Hiv From Kissing
Let’s start by stating the obvious: kissing is considered among the most ineffective means of transmitting HIV from one person to another, with risk considered anywhere from negligible to non-existent.
To date, there has really been only one, rather dubious case where an HIV-negative woman was said to have infected by her HIV-positive male partner, who reportedly deep kissed her on a regular basis over a two-year period, often with bleeding gums.
What makes the casewhich was reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention back in 1996highly suspect is the fact that the couple also reported condom breakage during the same period, reported that they had used a nonoxynol-9 lubricant , and reported having vaginal sex and oral sex without condoms during the span of their relationship.
While the CDC reported that they suspected HIV transmission was “possibly associated with exposure of mucous membranes to contaminated blood,” they could not exclude vaginal sex, oral sex, or any other possibility.
Beyond this one incident, there has been no documented case wherein kissing alone was identified as the mode of HIV transmission in either a sexual or social situation.
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What Are The Chances Of Becoming Infected If He Doesnt Ejaculate Inside Me
While research suggests that high concentrations of HIV can sometimes be detected in precum, it is difficult to judge whether HIV is present in sufficient quantities for infection to occur. To guard against the possibility of infection with HIV or any other STI it is best to practice safer sex by using condoms.
Where To Get Help
- Communicable Disease Control Unit, Department of Health Victoria Tel. 1300 651 160
- Immunisation Unit, Department of Health, Victorian Government Email:
- NURSE-ON-CALL Tel. 1300 606 024 for expert health information and advice
- Heymann, D. L. , Control of Communicable Diseases Manual, 18th edition, American Public Health Association, Washington.
- Communicable Diseases Network Australia, Guidelines for the early clinical and public health management of meningococcal disease in Australia – Revised Edition 2007, Department of Health and Ageing, Australian Government.
- Blue book – Guidelines for the control of infectious diseases, , Infectious Diseases Epidemiology and Surveillance , Department of Health, Victorian Government. More information here.
- Australian Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Infection in Healthcare , National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Government. More information here.
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