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Do You Worry About Getting HIV?

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in Health & Wellbeing
Back in the 1980's there was only about 4 TV Channels and two of them carried really powerful adverts warning people about AIDS and HIV and unprotected Sex

Now these days there's over 200 channels on Sky TV, Freeview, etc and hardly any such adverts to warn people

I'm quite shocked at how many people I know have had one night stands with someone they don't know their sexual history of without a condom.

http://www.sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/worldmapper/display.php?selected=227

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/africa/03/aids_debate/html/default.stm

http://www.avert.org/aidsfaqs.htm

We just had world Aids days on 1st Dec and it hardly got much coverage in the media .. if it hadn't been on the front screen of Google I wouldnt have even known.


According to the Population Reference Bureau, these are the countries with the highest rate of AIDS among their populations, along with the percent of the population afflicted...
1. Swaziland - 33.4%
2. Botswana - 24.1%
3. Lesotho - 23.2%
4. Zimbabwe - 20.1%
5. Namibia - 19.6%
6. South Africa - 18.8%
7. Zambia - 17.0%
8. Mozambique - 16.1%
9. Malawi - 11.8%
10. Central African Republic - 10.7%
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Comments

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I personally dont worry about aids or whatnot, because I am extremely careful. I am not willing to take a risk and go bare back with a stranger, those few hours could be a life time of problems.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    No, I can't say I do actively worry about it.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    HIT wrote:
    those few hours
    ... there's an optimist... :p

    personally, no i don't.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Given some of the people i've slept with, i occassionally worry but not too much.
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    Indrid ColdIndrid Cold Posts: 16,688 Skive's The Limit
    Being a virgin, I don't think I have reason to worry. I know there are other ways to get it, but as I don't know about anyone I know having it, I think it would be a bit too paranoid to get checked every time I get scratched or something.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Occasionally.

    But not seriously, no.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I was disappointed with the media coverage of world aids day. It was focussed very much on poor countries that are far away which whilst I can understand they are more affected I think a lot of people in the UK don't think it is something that heterosexual Brits need to be worried about for themselves.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I have worried about it before, but ive been tested and am negative. I dont worry now because im in a monogamous relationship and although he hasnt been tested, I have been tested since ive been with him (routine test in pregnancy) and its been negative.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I worry a bit but am pretty good at safe sex ...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i'm always really worried about it, i'm such a paranoid person i always think im gonna get every disease possible
    is scary thought that for sleeping with someone you could end up dying
    even when using protection if the comdom splits or whatever
    & if they knew & didnt tell you its like they killed you basicaly and its even worse if i knew i had it i think cause id just give up in life, even though you live like 15years with medication i would still give up cause i'm just like that:/
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It's never worried me, i wouldn't jump into bed with a complete stranger or with someone that i couldn't trust. Iv always been careful so don't feel the need to worry.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I have met a paranoid couple that before sleeping with each other, they both went for tests around the DR's.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I've always been careful in the sense I used protection and never worried about it but at my yearly vagina tests I always got checked for everything including that. This year will probably be my first of not as I trust the man ;)
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    littlemissylittlemissy Posts: 9,972 Supreme Poster
    HIT wrote:
    I have met a paranoid couple that before sleeping with each other, they both went for tests around the DR's.

    I don't see that as paranoia, I see that as good sense. I wouldn't have unprotected (I mean without a condom rather than no birth control) sex with someone unless I knew we were both clean.

    However, to answer the original post, no, I don't worry about HIV. My lifestyle doesn't really lead to HIV being an issue. If I slept around or shared needles or the like, then it would be more of an issue. But I don't do any of that.
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    Indrid ColdIndrid Cold Posts: 16,688 Skive's The Limit
    HIT wrote:
    I have met a paranoid couple that before sleeping with each other, they both went for tests around the DR's.
    Every time? :eek:

    :p
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ^^ That would be paranoid. :lol:
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    No.

    I'm a "do first, think later" sort of person when it comes to my own wellbeing. It'll come back to bit me on the arse someday.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    no but i probably should.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    HIT wrote:
    I have met a paranoid couple that before sleeping with each other, they both went for tests around the DR's.
    That's not paranoid, that's extremely sensible
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    piccolo wrote:
    That's not paranoid, that's extremely sensible
    Thats what I thought
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yes I've been worried, I've had an ex turn up telling me he's got this that and the other because of his needle use
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    thats frightening but at least he came and told you.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Don't you have to get a blood test in the USA in most states before getting married so you can both see what you both got?

    Anyway seems sensible to me that two people may want to get tested before throwing away the condoms.

    The yearly HIV infection rate in the UK had doubled since those adverts in the 1980's and you never know who's got it, there was some story of a woman who got HIV from a black guy and as revenge (in her mind) she went around sleeping with as many black guys as possible to pass it on.


    http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006280282,2.html
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    SuzyCreamcheese wrote:
    thats frightening but at least he came and told you.
    Yes defo, admiration for that
    DiamondGeezer wrote:

    Anyway seems sensible to me that two people may want to get tested before throwing away the condoms.
    Yes that's sensible but how many people are sensible? if the whole world was sensible we'd be more than overcrowded
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Nope, got it :) Though it doesn't mean i can't get it again.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    really?
    So if two people who had HIV were in a relationship, could they not get away with not using condoms?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    piccolo wrote:
    That's not paranoid, that's extremely sensible
    The male was a virgin.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Nope. If 2 people have HIV there's even more reason to use protection.

    Simply put, HAART (Highly Active Anti Retroviral Therapy) the treatment for HIV works on usuing combinations of drugs. So say there are 10 drugs to fight HIV and the strain of HIV i have is resitant to drugs 1,3,6 & 9. If i get infected with another strain of HIV thats resitant to say drugs 2,3,7 & 8 then i'm only left with drugs 4,5 & 10 to combat HIV, to which either strian will eventually become resistant.

    The majority, it seems, of guys in the HIV+ room on Gaydar bareback, and this is causing so called 'super strains' of HIV to occur that are resitant to most, if not all, HAART. There have been reports from the US of people contracting HIV and then progressing on to AIDS in less than a year because of these drug resistant strains.

    PLus of course there's HCV, which is when a person with HIV contracts Hep C and that REALLY fucks you up. Because Hep C effects the liver, they quite often have to take you off your HIV medication as it's too much for your liver to cope with.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Not really. There's far more common (and likely to pass on) problems than HIV that should give you reason to wear a condom with someone you don't know very well.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    RubberSkin wrote:
    Nope. If 2 people have HIV there's even more reason to use protection.

    Simply put, HAART (Highly Active Anti Retroviral Therapy) the treatment for HIV works on usuing combinations of drugs. So say there are 10 drugs to fight HIV and the strain of HIV i have is resitant to drugs 1,3,6 & 9. If i get infected with another strain of HIV thats resitant to say drugs 2,3,7 & 8 then i'm only left with drugs 4,5 & 10 to combat HIV, to which either strian will eventually become resistant.

    The majority, it seems, of guys in the HIV+ room on Gaydar bareback, and this is causing so called 'super strains' of HIV to occur that are resitant to most, if not all, HAART. There have been reports from the US of people contracting HIV and then progressing on to AIDS in less than a year because of these drug resistant strains.

    PLus of course there's HCV, which is when a person with HIV contracts Hep C and that REALLY fucks you up. Because Hep C effects the liver, they quite often have to take you off your HIV medication as it's too much for your liver to cope with.
    i didnt know all that. thanks.
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