HIV/AIDS Awareness Survey Question Answers

What is the risk of transmitting HIV during oral sex?

Answer: The risk of HIV transmission through oral sex is much smaller than that through anal or vaginal sex. If the HIV positive person has bleeding wounds or gums there is a greater chance of HIV transmission.

Can insects transmit HIV?

Answer: Insects cannot transmit HIV. When taking blood from someone mosquitoes do not inject blood from any previous person. The only thing that a mosquito injects is saliva, which acts as a lubricant and enables it to feed more efficiently.

Can you tell if someone is infected with HIV just by looking at them?

Answer: No you cannot. The virus can remain dormant for years. Even the infected person may not know that he or she is infected.

Can AIDS be cured if you have early treatment?

Answer: No. There is no cure for AIDS or the HIV infection that causes AIDS. However, early diagnosis can make treatments possible that keep the viurs dormant. People living with HIV are living longer and longer as new drugs and therapies are developed.

If two people have already been infected with HIV, protective sex should not be an issue.

Answer: This is false. There are many different genetic variants of HIV. Re-infection with a different HIV strain on an individual that may already be immune compromised can accelerate the progression to AIDS.

Risk of HIV infection:

Unprotected sex

Answer: The risk of HIV transmission through oral sex is much smaller than that through anal or vaginal sex. Unprotected anal sex has the greatest risk among these. If the HIV positive person has bleeding wounds or gums there is a greater chance of HIV transmission.

Intravenous drug use

Answer: The big risk here is using dirty needles. Use needles harbor fluids from the previous user. If that person was HIV positive you would be injecting HIV into your vein.

Getting tattoos

Answer: Contaminated tatoo needles are the risk here. If the salon creating tatoos does not properly sterilize their equipment between uses transmission can occur. If you are considering getting a tatoo you should ask the staff about their sterilization procedures.

Using public bathrooms

Answer: No documented cases of transmission have occured by using a public bathroom for what it is intended. However, you can get HIV in a public bathroom if you use it to have unsafe sex or share needles.

 

For more information check the CDC web site for HIV/AIDS information.