is hiv rare amongst kids?

Question

im 14 and im wondering y we are told not to have sex with other people bcuz of hiv, apart from STD's and pregnancy is there really a risk of hiv if both people are virgins in England at our age

even if they were sexually active with people their age wudn't it still be basically impossible to get hiv cuz their parents would have it and they would of got it from them and they would be ill a lot

Answer 1

In 2005 the CDC reported 66 AIDS cases in 13-14 year olds (in the United States). [1]

In the same year they reported just over 2,000 AIDS cases for 20-24 year olds. If one assumes the 10 year latency period is correct, then maybe 1000 teenagers somehow caught HIV during their 13th and 14th years.

So Melissa is wrong when she says teenagers get HIV at higher rates than adults.

This is remarkably low considering the United States has about 750,000 unwanted pregnancies each year and an estimated 9 million std's in the teenage and young adult populations. [2] The rate is lower in European countries.

The question is, why hasn't HIV jumped into this very active population of sexually active individuals?

Maybe it's because HIV isn't a sexually transmitted disease as is widely believed, but non-specific antibody reactivity. That this may be the case is reported in STD reduction research in Africa. [3] The authors reported a reduced incidence of herpes simplex virus type 2 ("HSV2- a proxy measure of unprotected sexual contact"), as well as a significant reduction in acute syphilis, gonorrhoea, and unprotected casual sex in the intervention group. But there was no effect on HIV incidence.

Answer 2

Although the odds of contracting HIV from sex are very low, for a 14 year old, the odds of contracting many other STD is not so low. There are dozens of bacteria and viruses that can pretty much only be spread by sexual contact, and these are called STDs. There are hundreds more bacteria and viruses that can be contracted by kissing and touching and also by sharing eating utensils etc, that are not considered to be STDs.

For example, you can catch Epstein Barr virus from "casual contact" with an infected person, so EBV is not labelled as an STD. EBV does not kill many people, but it can cause pretty serious problems like chronic fatigues syndrome, in a small percentage of infected people.

You should not fear getting close to people, kissing, etc. But you should be smart, and not just kiss every person you meet.

Answer 3

The chances of a child your age having hiv in this country is extremely small, unless they are a intravenous drug user or are sexually active.
The only other way is if their mother has hiv, and then they would know about it and probably be severely ill and on lots of medications.

Answer 4

Many children get it because of HIV positive parents. The only thing they did was to be born.

Answer 5

Teenagers contract HIV and other STD's at a higher rate than adults. That says enough.

Answer 6

You are partly right but, my question to you why would a 14 year old want to have sex? is a person that age really ready for the consequences of that action? if i were you i wouldnt take the chance of the diseases or other consequences.

Answer 7

No