I was born in the early 80's. When I was taking health class (middle school). I remember they made a big deal out of condom uses and abstinence from sex. Based on the knowledge we had at that time, HIV first became an issue in the Gay community. It was initially a "Gay disease".
It of course was confirmed that anybody could get this. However, years and years have past since this and medicine has advanced a lot over HIV. Now we have epidemiological data that can give very accurate statistics on HIV contraction via sexual and non-sexual methods. As well as some documentaries that describer our the poor quality of our blood banking systems. A few things I've noticed in material that I've read....
1. Epidemiological data shows that the probability of contracting HIV via sexual activities is quite low. Many people think that just "one encounter" is enough. But based on the data it can take several hundred encounters 1/909. While I was in school it, the classes described almost "one encounter" or this is a "sex disease".... The data even breaks down the actual "sex act", anal sex (of course) has the highest contraction rate (simply because the blood vessels in the anus etc).
2. There are a few things that came to light through documentaries etc... (1). For some time hypodermic needles were reused and reused (non-disposable). (2) The blood banking system was a fucking mess, at that time they paid for blood donations and drug dealers commonly donated. (3) A lot of blood based pharmaceutics were manufactured from this blood, one being "factor" which was given to hemophilia patients. Therefore, there is a possibility that the medical system at that time was a spreading the disease or facilitating the spread.
3. The highest risk activities for HIV contraction are blood transfusions and needle sharing (drugs).
So I guess my question is, what was the most major contributor to the spread of HIV? Could sex alone cause HIV to spread to the levels that we have today? Assuming the medical community was "removed from the equation", would HIV even be an issue today?
It of course was confirmed that anybody could get this. However, years and years have past since this and medicine has advanced a lot over HIV. Now we have epidemiological data that can give very accurate statistics on HIV contraction via sexual and non-sexual methods. As well as some documentaries that describer our the poor quality of our blood banking systems. A few things I've noticed in material that I've read....
1. Epidemiological data shows that the probability of contracting HIV via sexual activities is quite low. Many people think that just "one encounter" is enough. But based on the data it can take several hundred encounters 1/909. While I was in school it, the classes described almost "one encounter" or this is a "sex disease".... The data even breaks down the actual "sex act", anal sex (of course) has the highest contraction rate (simply because the blood vessels in the anus etc).
2. There are a few things that came to light through documentaries etc... (1). For some time hypodermic needles were reused and reused (non-disposable). (2) The blood banking system was a fucking mess, at that time they paid for blood donations and drug dealers commonly donated. (3) A lot of blood based pharmaceutics were manufactured from this blood, one being "factor" which was given to hemophilia patients. Therefore, there is a possibility that the medical system at that time was a spreading the disease or facilitating the spread.
3. The highest risk activities for HIV contraction are blood transfusions and needle sharing (drugs).
So I guess my question is, what was the most major contributor to the spread of HIV? Could sex alone cause HIV to spread to the levels that we have today? Assuming the medical community was "removed from the equation", would HIV even be an issue today?
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