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Medicine has Helped Give us Some Recent Wins:
Deaths From AIDS
• Better medicines have
struck back: AIDS deaths have dropped in the U.S. for 5 years in
a row the U.S.
• The body fights back: your immune
system holds HIV at bay for a long time, staying AIDS-free for
10 years, or 11.5 years with treatment.
• New medicines are coming: Less side
effects and better potency means more patients are able to take
their pills on time. If they don’t, they’re 4x more likely
to die!
• HIV’s dirty trick: More people (one
in four) are now catching smarter, mutated versions of HIV that
can beat our medicines.
Who is
getting HIV these days?: More than Ever, it’s Minorities! 
• HIV first hit white, gay males in the
U.S. But today, 60% of all new AIDS cases strike
African-Americans. Also, Hispanic-Americans have 19% of new AIDS
cases, despite representing 8% only of the population.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in
moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times
of challenge and controversy.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
How Can
You Stay Safe?
• No warning: Other than initial
flu-like symptoms, most HIV+ people feel fine for a
decade--until they develop AIDS! So they really don't know
they're HIV+.
• “Smart trust”—HIV test together
first: Improved antibody tests cut the “window period” of
uncertainty: 95% of infected people will test positive for HIV
after just 3 weeks, 100% > 3 mos.
• Looks Healthy to Me: HIV+ people are
actually most contagious when they’re first infected.
“Those who fail to appreciate history
are doomed to repeat it.” George Santayana
HIV is Hard
to Catch. So What’s Risky?
• Sex and Needles: These two risks alone
account for 99% of the 40,000 new US infections each year!
Other risks? About 200 babies are born HIV+ each year in the
US, and about 20 people still get HIV through blood
transfusions annually. A few dozen others may catch HIV by
performing unprotected oral sex.
• “A kiss is just a kiss”:
Saliva’s proteins (TSP and SLPI) block HIV from attaching to
blood cells. If you have nicks in the gums, exposed blood cells
burst before HIV can latch on. Pure saliva is absolutely safe,
even if it gets into a cut in your mouth. Only direct
blood-to-blood contact could pass HIV.
• Can HIV splash its way into me? 2,712
doctors and nurses were accidentally sprayed with HIV+ blood,
but none became infected. Still, don’t let someone’s blood
get pushed into an open wound.
• Personal Promises: don’t mix your
partying and romance. For teens, abstinence rules, but doesn’t
rule out all intimacy—just intercourse.
“Condoms Fail . . . if You Fail to Use
Them”: A study of couples who always used condoms tracked
15,000 sexual encounters, with no HIV infections. In a group of
124 couples who "usually" used condoms, 23% of HIV-
partners became infected.
• (1) Test the seal: squeeze the condom package to make sure
it’s still sealed airtight. You should feel a protective
“air pillow”.
• (2) Pinch the tip of the condom to leave slack for catching
the sexual fluids (always use two hands--1 to pinch the tip, 1
to unroll the condom.)
• (3) Use water based lubricants (i.e. K-Y Jelly™). Anything
oil-based will “melt” the condom. The spermicide N-9
doesn’t give any extra protection.
• (4) Clean up before cuddling. Pull out, remove the condom,
wash up--then cuddle. This will lower your risk of bacterial
infections, too.
“Do not wish to be anything but what you
are, and try to be that perfectly” St.
Francis de Sales
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