What Are The Chances Of Contracting Hiv

Interpreting The Numberswhat Additional Information Needs To Be Provided

Some clients may see these numbers and think their risk of HIV transmission is low. Therefore, caution is needed when interpreting them. If these numbers are provided to clients, they should be accompanied by information that helps shed light on why the risk may be higher than it seems.

Transmission can occur after one exposure.

It is important to emphasize that a person could become infected from having unprotected sex once or a person could have unprotected sex many times and not become infected, regardless of how low or high the risk per exposure is.

A risk of 1% would mean that an average of one infection would occur if 100 HIV-negative people were exposed to HIV through a certain type of sex. It does not mean that a person needs to be exposed 100 times for HIV infection to occur.

These are estimates of average risk in the absence of biological factors that increase risk.

The numbers in the table above are rough estimates. They are averages and do not represent the risk from all exposures to HIV through a certain type of sex.

The risk of HIV transmission may be much higher than these averages if biological risk factors are present. For example, research shows that STIs and some vaginal conditions, such as bacterial vaginosis, can increase the risk of HIV transmission by up to 8 times.6,7,8 As a result, the risk of an HIV-negative woman becoming infected through unprotected receptive vaginal sex could be closer to 1% if she has a vaginal STI.

Is The Risk Of Hiv Different For Different Groups

HIV can affect anyone regardless of sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, gender, age, or where they live. However, certain groups of people in the United States are more likely to get HIV than others because of particular factors, including the communities in which they live, what subpopulations they belong to, and their risk behaviors.

Communities. When you live in a community where many people have HIV infection, the chance of being exposed to HIV by having sex or sharing needles or other injection equipment with someone who has HIV is higher. You can use CDCs HIV, STD, hepatitis, and tuberculosis Atlas Plus to see the percentage of people with HIV in different U.S. counties and states, as well as other data. Within any community, the prevalence of HIV can vary among different subpopulations.

Subpopulations. In the United States, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men are the population most affected by HIV. According to CDC, in 2018, gay and bisexual men accounted for 69% of new HIV diagnoses. By race/ethnicity, Blacks/African Americans and Hispanics/Latinos are disproportionately affected by HIV compared to other racial and ethnic groups. Also, transgender women who have sex with men are among the groups at highest risk for HIV infection, and injection drug users remain at significant risk for getting HIV.

Visit our U.S. Statistics page for more information on how HIV affects different populations.

Challenges In Calculating A Number

It isn’t easy for researchers to calculate the risk of transmission from an exposure to HIV through sex. To do this effectively, a group of HIV-negative individuals need to be followed over time and their exposures to HIVboth the number of times they are exposed and the types of exposureneed to be tracked.

As you can imagine, accurately tracking the number of times a person is exposed to HIV is very difficult. Researchers ask HIV-negative individuals enrolled in these studies to report how many times they have had sex in a given period of time, what type of sex they had, how often they used condoms and the HIV status of their partner. Because a person may have trouble remembering their sexual behaviour or may not want to tell the whole truth, this reporting is often inaccurate.

Furthermore, a person does not always know the HIV status of their partner. For this reason, researchers usually enroll HIV-negative individuals who are in stable relationships with an HIV-positive partner . Researchers can then conclude that any unprotected sex reported by a study participant counts as an exposure to HIV.

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How Hiv Is Contracted

To contract HIV, bodily fluids, such as blood, breast milk and sexual excretions, must be exchanged. However, it cannot be contracted through sweat or urine. The chances of infection through saliva are very low. The most common way HIV is contracted is through sexual intercourse without a condom. Other ways include transmission from mother to child through breastfeeding or during pregnancy. It can also be transmitted through sharing needles or other drug paraphernalia. There is more than one type of HIV, so its important for even HIV positive people to remember that they have a risk of reinfection. However, its also important to remember that the virus is not very stable. It cannot survive long outside of the body only a few seconds, in fact.

Stigma Associated Towards Women With Hiv/aids

Association with HIV/AIDS within Australia is largely absent from the mainstream population. Therefore, in 2009, 73.6% of women diagnosed with HIV/AIDS reported unwanted disclosure of their health status due to a lack of awareness and knowledge about the disease. This was due to the large amount of stigma associated with a HIV diagnosis. The emotional and psychological problems for pregnant mothers within Australia are extremely high. 42% of women diagnosed with HIV/AIDS are also diagnosed with a mental health condition due to the harsh effects of the arising stigma around such circumstances. The stigma associated with HIV diagnosis in women often involves evoked assumptions that these women are considered a part of the sex trade industry, are homosexual or are intravenous drug users. These women are often viewed as contagious and are assumed to have devious traits and behaviours. In western society, socially specific roles expected of women, such as motherhood, create automatic discrimination when diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. Those women diagnosed with HIV/AIDS who express the idea of wanting to become pregnant are often discriminated against as being selfish, inconsiderate, uncaring and immoral. Healthcare professionals and practitioners are often reported as having negative attitudes towards women who openly identify with having HIV/AIDS and being pregnant or wanting to become pregnant.

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Giving And Receiving Oral Sex

Though semen and pre-cum are not the only routes for contracting HIV, they are two avenues. Ejaculating during oral sex increases the risk. If you or your partner feels ready to ejaculate, you can remove your mouth to avoid exposure.

Barrier methods like latex or polyurethane condoms and dental dams can be used during every oral sex act. Change condoms or dental dams if you move from the vagina or penis to the anus, or vice versa.

Also use lubricants to prevent friction and tearing. Any holes in the barrier methods can increase exposure risk.

Abstain from oral sex if you have any cuts, abrasions, or sores in your mouth. Any opening in the skin is an avenue for possible viral exposure.

Be careful not to cut or tear your partners skin with your teeth during oral sex. This opening can expose you to blood.

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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The Chance Of Hiv Transmission Through One

This table shows the chance of contracting HIV through one-time unprotected rectal sex with a partner who is HIV-positive. As you can see, the chance of the âbottomâ person contracting the disease from an HIV-positive âtopâ is much greater than the other way around.

How Is Hiv Transmitted Through Needles

HIV isnt transmitted only through sexual contact. Sharing needles also puts a person at higher risk of contracting HIV.

When a needle is injected into a persons body, it breaks the skin barrier. If the needle has already been injected into another person, it can carry traces of their blood, along with any infections they have. The contaminated needle can introduce these infections into the second persons body.

Researchers dont know if having an undetectable viral load reduces the risk of HIV transmission through shared needles, but its reasonable to assume it may provide some risk reduction.

HIV can affect anyone. Whatever their age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, or race, everyone should take steps to protect themselves. But due to socioeconomic factors, some demographic groups have higher HIV transmission rates and generally are more affected by HIV.

According to the CDC , the general demographic traits most affected by HIV are:

Transgender women are also highly impacted by HIV transmissions as a population, reports the CDC .

These groups are disproportionately affected by HIV, but they arent inherently at greater risk of contracting HIV. An individuals personal risk depends on their behaviors, not on their age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, race, or any other demographic factor.

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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.

Are Hiv Medicines Used At Other Times To Prevent Hiv Transmission

Yes, HIV medicines are also used for post-exposure prophylaxis and to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

• Post-exposure prophylaxis PEP means taking HIV medicines within 72 hours after a possible exposure to HIV to prevent HIV infection. PEP should be used only in emergency situations. It is not meant for regular use by people who may be exposed to HIV frequently. For more information, read the ClinicalInfo fact sheet on Post-Exposure Prophylaxis .
• Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV Pregnant women with HIV take HIV medicines for their own health and to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. After birth, babies born to women with HIV receive HIV medicine to protect them from infection with any HIV that may have passed from mother to child during childbirth. For more information, read the ClinicalInfo fact sheet on Preventing Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV.

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All Exposures Are Not Equal

The results of several meta-analyses suggest that some types of sex carry on average a higher risk of HIV transmission than others. Below are estimates from meta-analyses that have combined the results of studies conducted in high-income countries. For types of sex where meta-analysis estimates do not exist, numbers from individual studies are provided.

Anal sex

A meta-analysis exploring the risk of HIV transmission through unprotected anal sex was published in 2010.1 The analysis, based on the results of four studies, estimated the risk through receptive anal sex to be 1.4%. This risk was similar regardless of whether the receptive partner was a man or woman.

No meta-analysis estimates currently exist for insertive anal sex but two individual studies were conducted to calculate this risk. The first, published in 1999, calculated the risk to be 0.06% .2 However, due to the design of the study, this number likely underestimated the risk of HIV transmission. The second study, published in 2010, was better designed and estimated the risk to be 0.11% for circumcised men and 0.62% for uncircumcised men.3

Vaginal sex

A meta-analysis of 10 studies exploring the risk of transmission through vaginal sex was published in 2009.4 It is estimated the risk of HIV transmission through receptive vaginal sex to be 0.08% .

A meta-analysis of three studies exploring the risk from insertive vaginal sex was estimated to be 0.04% .4

Oral sex

You’re More Likely To Get Hiv If Your Partner Has Hiv And An Std

People with both HIV and an STD have more HIV in their semen or vaginal fluid. This makes it easier for a person with an STD or HIV to give the virus to others when having sex without a condom.

Remember, many people who have HIV don’t know it. It can take many years for symptoms to show up. That is why it is so important to use condoms during sex, or not to have sex at all.

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Risk By Sexual Activity

When discussing HIV risk, people often try to ascertain which “type” of sex is riskier vaginal, anal, or oral. From a purely statistical standpoint, anal sex is considered the highest risk activity with an almost 18-fold greater risk of infection compared to vaginal sex.

But this assessment is somewhat misleading, at least from an individual perspective. While vaginal sex may pose a lower risk comparatively, the figures neither take into account the way in which the disease is distributed between men and women nor the vulnerabilities which place some individuals at extremely high risk of infection.

Women are three to four times more likely to get HIV from men than the other way around. A young woman is more likely to get HIV from her first sexual encounter than her male partner.

There are some men who are far more likely to get HIV than others. Studies have shown, for example, that uncircumcised men are more than twice as likely to get HIV after vaginal sex than circumcised men.

Vulnerabilities vary by individual, so assessing the real risk of vaginal sex requires a better understanding of the factors that place some women and men at greater risk than others.

Deliberate Or Reckless Transmission

In response to the risks of HIV transmission, some governments passed legislation designed specifically to criminalise intentional transmission of HIV. Australia has not enacted specific laws, there have been a small number of prosecutions under existing state laws, with four convictions recorded between 2004 and 2006.

The case of Andre Chad Parenzee, convicted in 2006 and unsuccessfully appealed in 2007, secured widespread media attention as a result of expert testimony given by a Western Australian medical physicist that HIV did not lead to AIDS.

In February 2008, Hector Smith, aged 41, a male prostitute in the Australian Capital Territory who is HIV-positive, pleaded guilty in the ACT Magistrates Court to providing a commercial sexual service while knowing he was infected with a sexually-transmitted disease and failing to register as a sex worker. Under ACT law it is illegal to provide or receive commercial sexual services if the person knows, or could reasonably be expected to know, that he or she is infected with a sexually transmitted infection .

In January 2009 Melbourne man Michael Neal was jailed for 18 years for deliberately infecting and trying to infect sexual partners with HIV without their knowledge, despite multiple warnings from the Victorian Department of Human Services.

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Isnt Hiv Only A Risk For Certain Groups Of People

Like most illnesses, HIV doesnt discriminate between types of people and the infection can be passed on to anyone via one of the ways mentioned above.

Some people are more vulnerable to HIV infection if they engage regularly in certain activities that are more likely to transmit the virus. However, its a common misunderstanding that HIV only affects certain groups.

While not everyone has the same level of HIV risk, everyone can reduce their risk of infection.

Can You Get Hiv Through Oral Sex

The risk of HIV from oral sex is very small unless you or your partner have large open sores on the genital area or bleeding gums/sores in your mouth.

There is only a slightly increased risk if a woman being given oral sex is HIV-positive and is menstruating. However, you can always use a dental dam to eliminate these risks.

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We Know That Men Who Have Sex With Men In Illinois Are At Higher Risk For Hiv What About Women Who Have Sex With Women

It is not a personâs gender, sexual orientation, race or class that puts them at risk for HIV. People are at risk for HIV when they practice risky behaviors. Women who identify as lesbian or gay can be at risk for HIV by practicing any of the behaviors that place women at risk. Lesbian women have become infected with HIV by using injection drugs or having unprotected sex with male or female partners who are already infected with HIV. Women who have sex with other women should follow guidelines in this fact sheet to protect themselves, and can call the Illinois AIDS/HIV/STD Hotline at 800-243-AIDS for specific information.