AIDS Reality Check
Considering that Cambodia has the highest rate of HIV infections in the region, that I know people and know of people who’ve contracted the disease, the amount of unprotected indulgence that happens here and finally that the nature of the infection is terminally serious, i.e., you either take aids drugs the rest of your life or die a slow and horrible death, it’d be folly not to at least have an idea of the risks involved.
While those risks are nowhere near as great as many have made them out to be, considering, once again, the ultimate consequences of contracting the disease, all should be aware and wary.
One of the first studies of aids transmission, published about 15 years ago, which has been generally corroborated by more recent findings, involved couples having unprotected sex over extended periods. That research involved about 230 couples in which the man had aids and 5 0 in which the woman had aids. At this point I have to admit that I don’t remember exactly how long these couples were together or how often they had sex, only that they were not casual short-time affairs.
In the case of the women, one-third contracted aids. While it’s entirely possible that some of that one-third became infected on the first encounter with their partners, others might have bounced around in the sack hundreds of times before becoming infected. ‘
And, more relevant, two-thirds never developed the disease. In the case of the men only one of the fifty became infected and that was said to be a special case in which they couple had very wild and crazy sex on a frequent basis. Later studies showed greater rates of transmission women to men but still very low.
Ok, the first point we can surmise from the above is that it takes more than just sex to transmit the aids virus. Some other factor has to be operative. In fact, the easiest way to become infected through sex is for one of the partners to have a sexually transmitted disease like syphilis. If so, then the virus is almost certain to piggy back on the STI and infect the other partner.
Another clue is found in the fact that younger women are more susceptible to infection. Studies have shown that they make less juices. The cutoff point is about 25. Simply put, women in general are more likely to contract aids through sex because they are delicate inside and therefore more likely to experience tearing or abrasion. Voila! There must be some break in the skin for the virus to enter. As long as the man is an aware and sensitive sex partner and the woman is well lubricated, the virus cannot pass.
The same is true of oral sex. You cannot get aids that way unless there is some break in the skin. If you ate a piece of fish not long before sex and had a bone stick in your craw deeply enough to create a pinhole, or merely accidently bit your lip, well then the virus has an avenue to enter the bloodstream. Otherwise your stomach juices will destroy the virus.
Let me allow a caveat. There are always anomalies in life. The fact that something is extremely unlikely doesn”t exclude the possibility. You’re not very likely to get killed crossing a street, but it does happen.
Finally, recently, a massive study in India showed that men with foreskins are six times more likely to contract aids then men who are circumcised. Researchers carried on the study based on observations of wildly varying aids infection rates in Africa.
Western Africa, where men are often circumcised has far lower rates than southern Africa where they are not. I surmise that having a gland in the foreskin ( which produces smegma, a lubricant ) also allows the virus
in.
Prostitute infection rates in Cambodia are up around 25%. I’m not sure how that rate compares with freelance sex workers, though the virus must also be present among them. If you have a foreskin, you are a fool to have unprotected sex with taxi-girls. They don”t make much lubrication and considering how often they get banged, they are almost certain to have been torn up inside.
If you indulge, you owe yourself to take regular blood tests – it takes two to six weeks for the aids virus to show up. You have every right to take risks with your own life, whereas infecting another through ignorance or negligence is the moral equivalent of murder. If you have contracted an STI through a taxi girl you must get tested because if she had aids then almost certainly you have an increased chance of also having it.
Enjoy but also be aware.
Stan
