Today on A&E I saw a commercial that said 1 in 4 people with HIV don't tell their partner that they have it because they don't know they do - then the commercial went on to plug Trojan, and showed a man kissing a woman
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In 20 years of HIV testing about 6-8,000 people per year in the Seattle-King County public health STD clinic, I think we might have seen 1 or 2 HIV positive results in heterosexual, non-IDU, non-foreign-born men who were not the regular partners of HIV infected women. That's not to say such persons can never get infected, but it's not as common as you apparently assume.
In the entire country, around 600-800 cases of AIDS occur each year among males whose apparent risk factor was heterosexual exposure. That's 600-800 in a population of 300 million! Most of those are believed to have other risk factors they they denied--that is, they actually had sex with other men or were injection drug users. Many of the remainder were the regular partners (not 1-time or casual partners) of women known to have HIV and didn't consistently use condoms. Even allowing for the fact that there are many more people with HIV than with overt AIDS, the statistical risks boil down to zero, for practical purposes, with the sexual lifestyle you describe for yourself.
If you're going to be this frightened of HIV, then I have to assume you never drive a car, don't go swimming, avoid commercial air travel, and avoid crossing busy streets. All of those care greater risks to your life than HIV does--by far.
So get a grip and mellow out. Avoiding sexually acquired HIV means choosing your partners with some care (no unknown bar pickups, known drug users, etc) and consistently using condoms for vaginal or anal sex outside committed relationships. That's it. A lifetime of near-perfect protection.
HHH, MD
There you go!!! Look at the part in bold in particular.
I will be in favour of the government spending millions of dollars on HIV propaganda for heterosexuals (and in particular, heterosexual males) - the day I'm in favour of them spending millions of dollars on propaganda to prevent falls down the stairs, drownings in the pools, and deaths by lightning.
After all these threads are complete, I hope I've helped to open your eyes on the true risks of this virus, and let go of some of the indoctrination our generation has received over the years.
In 20 years of HIV testing about 6-8,000 people per year in the Seattle-King County public health STD clinic, I think we might have seen 1 or 2 HIV positive results in heterosexual, non-IDU, non-foreign-born men who were not the regular partners of HIV infected women. That's not to say such persons can never get infected, but it's not as common as you apparently assume.
In the entire country, around 600-800 cases of AIDS occur each year among males whose apparent risk factor was heterosexual exposure. That's 600-800 in a population of 300 million! Most of those are believed to have other risk factors they they denied--that is, they actually had sex with other men or were injection drug users. Many of the remainder were the regular partners (not 1-time or casual partners) of women known to have HIV and didn't consistently use condoms. Even allowing for the fact that there are many more people with HIV than with overt AIDS, the statistical risks boil down to zero, for practical purposes, with the sexual lifestyle you describe for yourself.
If you're going to be this frightened of HIV, then I have to assume you never drive a car, don't go swimming, avoid commercial air travel, and avoid crossing busy streets. All of those care greater risks to your life than HIV does--by far.
So get a grip and mellow out. Avoiding sexually acquired HIV means choosing your partners with some care (no unknown bar pickups, known drug users, etc) and consistently using condoms for vaginal or anal sex outside committed relationships. That's it. A lifetime of near-perfect protection.
HHH, MD
There you go!!! Look at the part in bold in particular.
I will be in favour of the government spending millions of dollars on HIV propaganda for heterosexuals (and in particular, heterosexual males) - the day I'm in favour of them spending millions of dollars on propaganda to prevent falls down the stairs, drownings in the pools, and deaths by lightning.
After all these threads are complete, I hope I've helped to open your eyes on the true risks of this virus, and let go of some of the indoctrination our generation has received over the years.
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