According to the chart on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hiv which I believe was published by the CDC, risk on getting HIV from a positive individual is often 1 in a thousand or less, and some doctors think it's close to 1 in 10,000 risk of getting it from a positive person.
If it's so hard to catch, why is it so prevalent in the world and espcially in Africa, where in some areas, at least 1 out of 4 people are positive.
The CDC's numbers don't seem to jive with what's happening. Can anyone tell me when that set of statistics were published? Mutations might account for an increase in how contagious it is.
2006-09-23 05:14:04 · 7 answers · asked by Rush L 1 in Health ➔ Diseases & Conditions ➔ STDs
i think u got the wrong idea.hiv can b easily transmitted thru risky behaviour and ppl are not being careful about these behaviours
2006-09-23 07:56:32 · answer #1 · answered by selina 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
http://www.thebody.com/cdc/news_updates_archive/apr13_01/african_aids.html
I dispute one of the answers. According to the article I linked to, the strains common in Africa are no more contagious or virulent than the strains found in the U.S. and Europe. Read the article for more detail, I don't want to rehash the whole thing.
Researchers are concluding that during the first stage of HIV, called "acute infection", viral loads are very high since antibodies are not detected, and at this time, the risk of infecting others is 20 times higher than someone with established HIV. It is also at this time that someone might have a negative standard HIV test, which looks for antibodies and not the virus itself.
2006-09-23 10:02:39 · answer #2 · answered by jmhum 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They have some weird beliefs in Africa.......like, if you are diagnosed with AIDS, you can cure yourself if you have sex with a virgin, and so on.
The reason AIDS is so prevalent in some areas is because people are not educated about the disease. I've met numerous people here in the states that believe you can "catch" HIV/AIDS from shaking hands with an infected person!! How uneducated is that?
The truth will set us free.
2006-09-25 19:48:56 · answer #3 · answered by Mrs.Fine 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are millions of people in the world performing millions of acts that expose them to HIV infection. Even with the low odds of infection you quote, the disease will still spread.
2006-09-23 05:17:13 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some strains are more virulent than others. The strain in Africa is particularly virulent than the strain in most other locations.
2006-09-23 07:42:01 · answer #5 · answered by Lea 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure that the figure you are quoting is correct. But even if it is .. millions of people all over the earth are having unprotected sex .. it doesn't take long to reach those figures. Good Luck ! :)
2006-09-23 08:24:22 · answer #6 · answered by tysavage2001 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
it so common, because to many people they dint use protection on the relations and in my opinion, is not to hard to catch...
2006-09-23 14:59:43 · answer #7 · answered by cyresetaz69 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋