AIDS poll

[Tim]

Without looking up the answer first...

If your partner has AIDS, what are the chances of you getting AIDS/HIV if you have unprotected straight (vaginal) sex with them?

I'm curious if people know the answer...

 

[Springsteen]

This is purely a guess......100% chance

 

[Tim]

This is purely a guess......100% chance

That's exactly what I am looking for... peoples guesses.

I know I was shocked when I found out the answer and was curious what everyone else thought...

 

[Darrell]

I remember we talked about this when I was doing my pre-reqs to be an RN.

It's something like 1 in millions as long as the person infected isn't in a high risk group? I don't recall the specific numbers, and I'm likely WAY off.

 

[Panacea]

I don't know the chances, but I learned a few years back AIDS is less communicable than Bird Flu.
Waged a guess of 10% based on that.

 

[Tim]

I remember we talked about this when I was doing my pre-reqs to be an RN.

It's something like 1 in hundreds of millions as long as the person infected isn't in a high risk group? I don't recall the specific numbers, and I'm likely WAY off.

You have two facts mixed up into one...

Think about it, if the person HAS AIDS, then it wouldn't matter if they are in a high risk group or not, because they already have it.

If you have unprotected sex with someone that is NOT in a high risk group, you have a 1 in 50 million chance to get AIDS. It's 1 in 500 million if you use a condom. But this is only if you don't know if they have AIDS or not. But once you KNOW they have AIDS, those statistics completely change.

 

[HK]

I went for the lowest option because I feel like this is the sort of thing where people normally think it's very high and it's not. But I definitely didn't answer with any certainty.

 

[Darrell]

You have two facts mixed up into one...

Think about it, if the person HAS AIDS, then it wouldn't matter if they are in a high risk group or not, because they already have it.

If you have unprotected sex with someone that is NOT in a high risk group, you have a 1 in 50 million chance to get AIDS. It's 1 in 500 million if you use a condom. But this is only if you don't know if they have AIDS or not. But once you KNOW they have AIDS, those statistics completely change.

That makes sense, and as I said, I was going off memory and was way off.

 

[Tim]

I went for the lowest option because I feel like this is the sort of thing where people normally think it's very high and it's not. But I definitely didn't answer with any certainty.

But I'm looking for what people believe...

If we were just having a conversation and I asked you about having unprotected sex with someone who is infected with AIDS, what do you think your chances of getting it are...

That's what I'm looking for, not the correct answer

 

[Zorak]

You caught HIV, not aids i thought

 

[HK]

But I'm looking for what people believe...

If we were just having a conversation and I asked you about having unprotected sex with someone who is infected with AIDS, what do you think your chances of getting it are...

That's what I'm looking for, not the correct answer

Well I don't believe it's anything like 100% haha I'm not sure how low it is so I picked that option because that's what I suspect it is - I don't have a firm belief in it though.

If it makes you happy, I believe the chances of getting AIDS from one instance of unprotected sex are pretty low

Although just to be clear, that doesn't mean I think people should take the risk.

 

[Panacea]

If I am not mistaken, I believe blood contact is the most likely means of contracting the virus, and anal sex usually results in enough small tears to put one at a higher risk, so to speak? Only part of the reason HIV?AIDS is so predominant in gay culture.

 

[jassilem]

My guess was 1 in 4.

 

[porterjack]

already has AIDS, i say very high 80%

 

[retro]

I'm pretty sure that it's about 1/1000, which isn't on the poll. And then I mistakenly voted for 1/100 because I thought there was an extra zero there. Though the contraction rate for unprotected anal sex is much higher because of the potential for blood transmission, which is far more likely to transmit the HIV virus than simple contact with sexual fluids.

 

[Tim]

You caught HIV, not aids i thought

You are correct. HIV is transmitted while AIDS is the result of the Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)

 

[Zorak]

So I wins teh cookie?

 

[Tim]

Statistics... of getting infected with HIV

1 in 500 - If you have unprotected vaginal sex with someone who has AIDS
1 in 5000 - If you have protected (condom used) vaginal sex with someone who has AIDS
1 in 50,000,000 - If you have unprotected vaginal sex with someone who is not in a high risk group
1 in 500,000,000 - If you have protected (condom used) vaginal sex with someone who is not in a high risk group

Using a condom only reduces your factor by 10

If you have unprotected vaginal sex with someone who has AIDS 500 times, you will have a 2 in 3 chance of getting infected. That's a 67% chance.

 

[porterjack]

well i learned something today

i would have guessed the 1 in 500 was true when your partner had HIV but when they already have AIDS i was sure it was much higher

 

[Panacea]

I think that fact is what makes the AIDS epidemic so stunning and shameful.