Sexual Transmission Of HIV
Why does sexual intercourse have a high-risk of HIV transmission?
Sexual intercourse has a high risk of transmitting HIV infection because that's the principal way HIV transmits. That's the ecological niche that the HIV virus has found to get around the world, so that is HIV's principal method of transmission.
Why are homosexual men associated with a high-risk of HIV?
Homosexual men are associated with a high risk of HIV. A lot of that is historical because this virus first got into the western world by getting into homosexual men. Of course, HIV didn't transmit very quickly from homosexual men to heterosexual people because homosexual men don't have sex with heterosexual people. It stayed within that group for sometime in the United States and Europe and so a lot of people came to see HIV as a homosexual disease. Actually, the disease itself comes from Africa and when you go to Africa, it's very much a heterosexual disease, with more women infected than men.
How can a man contract HIV from a woman during sexual intercourse?
It's very easy for a man to contract HIV from a woman during sexual intercourse. These sexually transmitted diseases go both ways. How exactly it happens I suppose we don't know, but we do know that if men have sex with infected women, men get infected with HIV. It's presumably through the vaginal secretions getting into the male urethra, getting into the head of the penis. It definitely happens. Otherwise, the HIV virus wouldn't be moving around in Africa as effectively as it is.
If my partner and I are both HIV positive, is it safe to have unprotected sex?
If a couple, male and male or male and female, are both HIV positive, obviously if they have sex together there's less risk that they're going to transmit HIV to someone who's HIV negative, which be the greatest crime, but we would still advise that they practice safe sex, mainly to prevent the acqusition of any other sexually transmitted diseases, like Syphillis. But also there have been reports, several reports of patients acquiring a second strain of HIV. And that could be dangerous to an individual. An individual might be doing very well with their own strain of HIV and have it under control, but if they get a second one their immune system may not be as good at handling that second strain and their immune system may deteriorate rapidly, or even worse, if they get a second strain that's drug resistant, then they might have a disease that's very difficult to treat. So we advise HIV positive people to wear condoms when they're having sex, even with other HIV positive people.
