One lawmaker, I was reading a real paper newspaper, so I don't have the link, is suggesting regulating by law porn stars.
His initial thought is that they need to be tested two times a month, and that anyone that fakes a test could be liable civilly.
Wish I had time to find the link, but I've got to run to class.
Elise [email protected]
First, sdstud has an excellent post ( http://theeroticreview.com/msgBoard/viewmsg.asp?MessageID=92366&boardID=12&page=3 ) that I completely agree with.
Second, I've now read the article zinaval recommended. It is "Why is AIDS Worse in Africa?", by Helen Epstein, February 2004 issue of Discover, page 68. I also highly recommend the article.
Under resources Discover gives the link listed below. On the lower right there is a lot of interesting stuff in "HIV Estimates" (under "Of Special Interest").
Following are some of my thoughts after reading all this (plus going through all the issues of Sexually Transmitted Diseases starting in January 2003).
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The AVERAGE risk of a female becoming HIV positive from a HIV positive male through a single act of uncovered fellatio is about 0.0002 (0.02%), through a single act of uncovered vaginal intercourse the AVERAGE risk is about 0.002 (0.2%), and through a single act of uncovered anal intercourse the AVERAGE risk is about 0.01 (1%).
The use of the male latex condom is about 87% effective in eliminating these risks (i.e., a group of women will acquire about 13% the number of infections as would be expected without condoms, or put another way, a individual woman can expect to go 7 to 8 times as long before she is infected if a male latex condom is always used).
I posted an article below that indicates that using a female condom is even safer. A group of women using female condoms appears to get about 75% as many infections as they would if male condoms were used.
The problem with average risks in the case of HIV is that they don't mean much. The actual risk can vary too much.
During the several weeks immediately after infection a person's viral load (the number of virus particles they are carrying) is very high and they are very infectious. The Discover article says they are perhaps 100 times as infectious as they will be later. Unfortunately, this highly infectious period is immediately after infection and before the standard antibody test will detect the disease. I believe that the PCR/DNA test used by AIM will detect the virus within about two weeks of infection. This is better, but obviously not perfect. As we are seeing from the testing and retesting going on in the porn community it takes some time to be completely sure of someone's HIV status and they can be highly infectious during that period.
There is scientific evidence that a person with an untreated sexually transmitted infection (STI), particularly involving ulcers or discharge, is on average, six to 10 times more likely to pass on or acquire HIV during sex.
According to current thinking, the risk of becoming HIV-infected from a single exposure is increased 10 to 300-fold in the presence of a genital ulcer caused by syphilis, cancroids or genital herpes (HSV-2).
It doesn't affect male to female transmission, but scientists think that male circumcision reduces the risk of female to male transmission significantly. (The Discover article says by up to 70%.) Currently, there is a controlled study in Africa involving about 12,000 men testing this hypothesis. It will be two to four years before we know for sure. (The study is partially funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation -- good for them!)
According to a 2002 CDC report, AIDS-related causes was the leading cause of death in the US for African-American men aged 24-44 and the third-leading cause of death for Hispanic men in the same age group. Overall, it is estimated that fully one-quarter of the 850-950,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in the USA are unaware that they are HIV-positive.
Unsafe sex, reflected in outbreaks of STIs, and injecting drug use propel epidemics in high-income countries. In the United States of America and Canada, about 25% of newly acquired HIV infections have been attributed to injecting drug use.
Sex between men remains an important aspect of the epidemic in most high-income countries. In the United States of America (in 2002) it accounted for 42% of new HIV diagnoses.
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The following is just my opinion, but it based on all the reading I have been doing (and partially summarized above).
I would say to the ladies, use a condom for vaginal intercourse (female condom preferred). Avoid anal altogether. Avoid IV drug users and men who have sex with men. Reject anyone with any kind of genital ulcer or discharge. Be cautious about men who are not circumcised.
Mathesar
-- Modified on 5/4/2004 2:38:01 AM
One lawmaker, I was reading a real paper newspaper, so I don't have the link, is suggesting regulating by law porn stars.
His initial thought is that they need to be tested two times a month, and that anyone that fakes a test could be liable civilly.
Wish I had time to find the link, but I've got to run to class.
Elise [email protected]
Because, as I stated in the prior thread, which Mathesar cited in his post just above, the real issue is that the HIV virus is apparently at it's most infectious state by far during the 1st month or so following infection. If one considers that the testing cannot reliably predict the disease until it has incubated for several weeks, then even a regime of more frequent testing will not prevent performers from having sexual contact during the period of maximum infectiousness.
It was said well during Sharon Mitchell's press conference on March 24:
The question arose as to whether anti-industry forces in
government might try to “make hay” out of the current
problem, and Levine responded that he hoped they wouldn’t.
“I would like to think that we all share the same goal of
creating a safer community,” he responded. “On the other
hand, we’re not unaware of the political attention that
this draws to the industry community at a very sensitive
political time. It’s an election year; clearly, there is a
lot of controversy about sexually explicit material and
questions raised in the media about indecency and what the
limits ought to be to that. But we don’t think that those
questions should bear upon a matter that deeply concerns
people’s health and well-being. We hope that no one is
operating out of those motives and we can certainly say
that we’re not.”