I've heard this many times from experts or whatever they want to call themselves. This notion seems ridiculous to me. If it isn't easty to get, then how do millions of people get it?
2007-11-04 17:01:45 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
it's not easy to get in terms of exposure. Increase your exposure, increase your risk. That's just logic.
it's estimated that by accidental needlestick, you have a 1 in 250 chance of being infected by HIV. Now if you stuck yourself with a needle everyday, those odds of NOT contracting it, would go down significantly.
This is why they ask about things such as "risk factors". Increase your risk factors and your odds of contracting HIV go up considerably.
2007-11-04 17:06:30 · answer #1 · answered by I_color_outside_the_lines 4 · 4⤊ 0⤋
You can't get HIV from shaking hands, hugging, being near an HIV+ person...
If you have sex (even with a condom) you risk exposure. If you are female, you have a greater risk than if you are a male.
If you have anal sex or rough sex, you increase your exposure risk.
HIV requires an hospitable environment. If you borrow a toothbrush or razor from a friend, the virus has a difficult time surviving outside the body so your risk is low.
HIV requires bodliy fluid contact between carrier and recipient. Blood, vaginal & seminal secretions... Skin to skin will not transfer the virus.
Sex is most non drug users' highest risk area. Even if one partner is a virgin, the other may be inclined to lie about his or her previous experience or prior drug history.
Drug or alcohol induced blackouts greatly increase one's risk of exposure and therefore influence the amount of and veracity of any personal history information he or she may posses and thereby be unable to share that information.
The best prevention is abstinence from drugs and sex. That being said, condoms aren't 100% safe but if you are going to have sex, use one (or 2 or 3 ... ). Even if you are on the pill or using a diaphram or any other form of birth control, use a condom!
Also, if you are sexually active, some recommend testing every six months as a habit, thereby removing some of the anxiety related to testing. It becomes routine and therefore less stressful. Test for all STDs, not just HIV as early detection for any of them is best.
You may wish to find a cash clinic who will test you anonymously or under a pseudonym so you don't have privacy issues if you ever do test positive. Just be sure to be 100% honest about your partner history so that the clinic can contact them for testing.
Today, HIV isn't the death sentence it used to be. People who are positive live long, healthy lives with the support of modern meds and groups and publications like POS.
HIV/AIDS is a disease not a mark of depravity.
Education and Empathy are your best protection.
2007-11-05 03:17:33 · answer #2 · answered by untamedwish 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well in most cases this is true.
Since it can't be contracted through casual contact, closed mouth kissing, sharing drinks/cups, hugging, shaking hands, breathing the same air or wearing the same clothes, sharing a bed without sexual contact or through manual sexual contact.
BUT the risks increase not only through repeated exposure, but the form of exposure.
Unprotected oral, anal and vaginal sex is a risk!
Open mouthed kissing is a risk, especially if one or the other person has an open wound of the mouth, such as a bite, torn gums or sore in the mouth.
Manual sex might be a risk if one partner or the other has an open wound of the hand, penis or vagina.
You see it's BLOOD contact and transmission that is the risk factor here...as well as ingested semen or seminal contact with mucus membranes.
2007-11-05 01:15:47 · answer #3 · answered by DEATH 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
That basically just means it's not as easy to get in some populations as, say, hepatitis or various others.
In the US, it hasn't reached the prevalence it has in parts of Africa, so there just isn't as much of it to be exposed to.
It's no harder to get than others, though.
2007-11-05 01:37:46 · answer #4 · answered by emily_brown18 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Its easy to get, all you have to do is engage in risky behaviour and sooner or later the law of averages will catch up with you. Don't win the HIV lottery. don't take chances.
2007-11-05 01:20:23 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you don't use needles and you don't have unprotected sex and you don't come in contact with hiv+ blood then you won't get h.i.v.
People get h.i.v. because they do those things thinking that it won't happen to them.
2007-11-05 01:23:10 · answer #6 · answered by Jon S 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It still isnt something to risk..
2007-11-05 13:31:11 · answer #7 · answered by Ally 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋