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Fact and Fiction - How is HIV spread?
Fact
There are four proven ways in which HIV can be passed from person to person:
- Sexual contact -heterosexual or homosexual, involving exchange of infectious body fluids (semen, vaginal secretions and blood) with an infected person.
- Sharing injection needles and equipment, with an infected person.
- From an infected pregnant mother to her baby, before and during birth or by breast feeding. The chances of passing HIV from mother to child is 15 - 40%.
- Injection or transfusion of blood or blood products taken from an infected person.
Fiction
You cannot get HIV infection from everyday work, either at work or socially. HIV is not spread by:
- Hugging and kissing on the lips
- Sharing cutlery and crockery
- Shaking hands
- Being coughed or sneezed upon
- Insect or animal bites
- Using the same toilet facilities
- Using the same laundry facilities
- Using swimming pools
- Mouth to mouth resuscitation
- Being a workmate or friend
How to avoid HIV
Sexual Transmission of HIV
To avoid sexual transmission of HIV, the most effective way is to stay with one partner and remain faithful to that partner. This assumes that neither of you has had previous sexual partners or engages in intravenous drug use.
If you are not in 'one faithful partner' relationships, a good quality new condom, correctly used (see below), is the single most effective defence against HIV infection. Remember:
- Never use the same condom twice
- Check the expiry date
- Be careful not to damage the condom with your fingernails, rings or foil covering
- Never have genital contact with a partner without the protection of a condom
- If using a lubricant, use a water based lubricant. Oil based lubricants weaken the condom
- After sex, carefully remove the condom to avoid spilling the semen and dispose of it hygienically
- Needles and Syringes
- Any device that punctures the skin may be infectious. This includes needles for syringes, tattooing and for acupuncture; ear piercing and electrolysis equipment.
- Avoid their use unless they have been properly sterilised - soaking at 56oC for 10 minutes. Never share injection equipment for intravenous drug use.
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Safer Sex
What is Safer Sex?
Safer Sex is a means of protecting yourself from catching infections from your sex partner. These infections could be STIs like gonorrhea, Heatitis B, or HIV.
Safer Sex includes practices like kissing, hugging, massaging, fantasizing, mutual masturbation, body rubbing, or using a condom for penetrative sex. Additionally, always having protected sex (using condoms), if you have multiple partners, is safer.
Since penetrative sex (anal or vaginal sex) carries the highest risk for the transmission of HIV, using a condom will cut down the risk.
Why should I have safer sex?
Safer Sex means different things to different people. It could mean that you respect your own life as well as your partner's. Since AIDS is an incurable condition, caused by HIV getting into your blood stream and killing your immune system, using condoms will help prevent you from catching the virus.
It can also prevent other sexually transmitted infections from getting into your body. This way you can still enjoy sex without raising the risk of catching an infection.
If you have multiple partners, safer sex can help you enjoy sex without worrying about catching an infection or passing it along. Safer sex is also about having protected sex with one single partner
Of course, the safest sex is abstinence - not having sex at all.
Are condoms the only way to have safer sex?
You can be inventive in your sex life. Include safer activities like kissing, hugging, body rubbing, hugging, massaging, fantasizing, cuddling, mutual and self-masturbation and others. But it is best to use condoms for safer penetrative sex.
What about oral sex?
The jury is still out on the risk factors of oral sex leading to HIV entering the body. Due to the large incidence of bleeding gums, it is considered safer to use condoms for oral sex.
One recent study suggested that around 8% of Male HIV cases (out of 102) were through oral contact. These patients reported oral problems including occasional bleeding gums which may have led to infection (CDC - NCHSTP, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. Presentation at the 7th National Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections). However there are disagreements.
The safest bet is to use condoms. Flavoured condoms (banana, strawberry and others) are available in the market. There is also a brand of whiskey flavoured condoms!
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