John writes:
I scheduled an appointment with my doctor tomorrow, and I am going to ask her to give me an HIV test, maybe also check for other diseases.
I read up on HIV transmission in several countries and on certain cites it says transmission is mainly heterosexual. How is this possible? By this do they mean that it’s mostly men giving it to women? I also read on several websites that the highest concentration of HIV viral cells is in semen, followed by blood, and then vaginal fluids right? Can you get HIV from just exposure to vaginal fluids?
What are the chances (in fractions/ratios/percentages) of getting HIV from one incident of vaginal sex with a woman of unknown status when there are no visible cuts/abrasions, no blood present, and her vagina is naturally wet? The CDC says the risk for insertive vaginal sex is about 2 in 10,000.
I suppose this is reduced greatly since I have had no symptoms of sickness, there were no cuts or abrasions present, and the vagina was wet, also I’m circumcised and I took a piss shortly after the sex and I washed my dick right after in the shower. (I read that non-circumcised men are at greater risk because the virus can get caught under the foreskin and stay there)
How can one even get HIV from vaginal sex with no cuts or abrasions? It would have to travel very far up the urethra in order to get into the bloodstream. Or are the cuts so small (microtears) that they are invisible to the naked eye?
Anyways, taking my test tomorrow (I didn’t specify to the doctor that I was taking a test for STI’s I just made an appointment with plans to tell them there, as there is no specific option for STI test when scheduling online)
What is your verdict Robert?
Those vaginal fluid titers are so low that I am amazed it even transmits. Women -> men HIV transmission is heavily associated with men having diseases like Herpes that cause ulcerating sores. The virus goes in via that opening. It is also associated in vaginal sex with vaginal and/or penile bleeding. Honestly, this is a blood borne illness. Men get it via exposure to blood. If you’re not exposed to blood, you probably will not get it.
Really men get this disease in two different ways.
1. Receptive homosexual anal sex.
2. IV drug use which involves sharing needles.
You can get it other ways, but that is a small percentage of the transmission. As far as heterosexual transmission goes, the disease goes from males to females and then it stops! Women are the end of the line as far as transmission goes.
That CDC figure is really 1/10,000, and that is if she is HIV positive!
A study in the 1980′s (Nancy Padian study) had a number of couples discordant for HIV and followed them for 5 years. By that time the men had had sex with their HIV positive wives ~700 times. Even after screwing them 700 times over 5 years, 80% of the men had still not gotten it yet! 20% had, but there was an association there with associated with penile and/or vaginal bleeding.
You can also get it from having anal sex with a woman because there can be some minor bleeding on her end when you do that, and that would expose your penis to blood.
What are the chances (in fractions/ratios/percentages) of getting HIV from one incident of vaginal sex with a woman of unknown status when there are no visible cuts/abrasions, no blood present, and her vagina is naturally wet?
Incredibly low. Something like 1/1,000,000.
