How are most people infected

[Average_Joe]

In regards to preventing hiv how do most people contract it?  Do most people even know how they contracted it?  My fear is from vaginal intercourse but there doesn't seem to be many people concerned with that kind of activity.  I would like to know how others contracted it because it could help me and others understand better how someone can become infected.  So far most of the cases I have come across were due to homosexual activity and injectable drug users.  If you have contracted hiv as a male through heterosexual sex I would like to know because the chances seem to be considerably less even though I know it is still possible.  Also I am aware of many blood transfusions causing this. 

If there are any other weird possible ways of contracting this I would like to know.  Prior to my recent googling I was unaware that even oral sex can spread hiv.  It was mostly describe to me as a virus that needed to have access to the blood stream and now I'm not too sure that it can't be spread more easily by other methods that haven't been described.  At this point I wouldn't even trust having sex with a person with a condom after all the posts and information I have read.

All personal accounts from hiv positive people regarding there contracted stories would be greatly appreciated as I feel it will give me a better understanding of how this virus can infect humans other than the social stigma norms of how it is contracted.  Thank you for all responses as this forum is the only place I have confided in with my fear of having hiv and it is the only thing staving off my severe anxiety at this point.

[CaveyUK]

HIV can and is contracted through vaginal sex - in some regions heterosexual infections now outnumber any other kind.

Naturally, due to the fragility of the anatomy in that area, anal sex carried a higher risk (with either sex) and this is why traditionally the gay community has been disproportionally affected.

Direct blood contact, such as sharing needles, carried the highest risk for reasons I shouldn't need to go into here.

Oral sex is basically a negligible risk due to the protective properties in saliva. There would have to be some fairly extreme circumstances which would allow transmission via that route and this is the reason we don't encourage people to test based purely on unprotected oral sex. There are always reports of folk who claim to be infected via this route and whilst you can never say it's impossible, it's worth remembering that many will mis-report their real risk factors for a variety of reasons. Put another way - if oral sex was a viable transmission route, there would be millions more infections than there actually are.

As for all the 'weird' ways of contracting HIV, just disregard them. There is a lot of rubbish on the internet, and many out-of-date articles. With the exception of things that really shouldn't trouble you (mother-to-baby, breast feeding, blood transfusion), the only means of transmission are unprotected vaginal or anal sex, or sharing of needles.

So if you want to avoid infection, just use a condom with partners. It's as simple as that.

[Jim Allen]

As for all the 'weird' ways of contracting HIV, just disregard them. There is a lot of rubbish on the internet, and many out-of-date articles

Fully agree with CaveyUK also to add asking for comments about stories is not prevention of HIV , its called feeding paranoia and misinformation with a dose of annoying people living with HIV on the side. Namely me

Biologically, four conditions need to be present for transmission to occur:
The virus must be present in an infectious body fluid from the HIV positive person, it must be present at sufficient levels to cause infection. There must be an effective route of transmission, and it must reach susceptible cells in another person.

Science has moved on and anecdotal stories are just stories, not facts. There are many reasons why someone would rather not admit to an exposure or the full truth. Being newly diagnosed is difficult enough time on its own, for some it is a time of struggling with deep fear of HIV stigma, social judgment & self stigma but also  things like sexuality, religion, family, sexual relationships etc etc come into play as well and for others even legal fears.

There is allot of misinformation and stories on the internet and lots of opinions or outdated data that get passed around as facts, its basically nonsense.

Here's what you need to know in order to avoid hiv infection:
Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, every time, no exceptions.  Consider using PrEP as an additional layer of protection from HIV

Keep in mind that some sexual practices which may be described as ‘safe’ in terms of HIV transmission might still pose a risk for transmission of other STI's, so please do get fully tested regularly and at least yearly for all STI's including but not limited to HIV and test more frequently if unprotected intercourse occurs

Also note that it is possible to have an STI and show no signs or symptoms and the only way of knowing is by testing.

Kind regards

Jim