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Questions and Answers on HIV

Q. If a person has sexual intercourse with an infected female, what is the chance of him getting the disease?

A. The risk of vaginal intercourse without protection may vary between 0.1 to 0.01%. However, there are many other factors which can increase transmission including the presence of genital ulcers, the type of sex act actually performed, sex toys etc. etc.

Q. The blood tests only tell you after your body has produced the HIV antibodies. How do you find out whether you got the infection immediately after having sexual intercourse with a prostitute?

A. Be patient. You have to wait for sometime even if you use the newer (and usually used in research) antigen test you will still have to wait for a few weeks.

Q. Can HIV be transmitted through the act of oral sex or French kissing?

A. Yes. However, the risk is significantly lower than anal or vaginal intercourse. In oral sex, the person performing the act runs the higher risk but some couples use the oral dam which acts as a barrier or oral sex with a condom. French kissing has relatively low risk unless there are lesions or cuts in the oral cavity.

Q. Do condom protect one completely from getting AIDS if one practice casual sex often?

A. The efficacy of the condom is dependent on the quality of the condom
itself as well as the technique of putting on the condom. However, the studies suggest that the efficacy of STD prevention may be anything between 90 to 99%. Although I agree with you that it does not completely remove the risk of HIV infection certainly if sexual intercourse is taking place with an 'unknown or uncertain' partner some protection is better than no protection.

Q. How come HIV virus can be transmitted outside the body? like for instance thru a needle?

A. HIV transmission requires a very direct route for eg. in sexual intercourse there should be penetration and in drug users there should be sharing of needles with contaminated blood inside. I think that you are asking me whether the virus can survive outside the body for a prolonged period of time. The answer to that question is no, however, I have to qualify that statement. If the blood is dried and coagulated the risk of transmission is significantly reduced whereas the risk of transmission is much higher if the blood is still fresh.

Q. Dr Bella, you mean to say that a person has only 0.1 to o.o1% of getting AIDS if he has intercourse with an infected person. What about Anal sex ,what is the chance of infection then?

A. Anal intercourse has a higher risk and it can vary between 1 to 10%.

Q. I have read articles saying some HIV positive people use needle to poke other people to infect them with HIV is this true?

A. In theory this route of transmission is possible. However, this is not something that happens often and if it does it is already a criminal act and should be reported to the police. The large majority of HIV infected people are very 'normal' and do not behave in a manor you have described above. In fact, they suffer more from our discrimination and isolation

Q. What is the life expectancy of people diagnosed HIV positive?

A. The average life expectancy is about 10 years.

Q. I gather that the HIV virus is present in body fluids in an infected person, what is the risk of a mosquito biting this person and transmitting to the next ?

A. There is no risk at all of a mosquito biting and transmitting HIV from an infected person to another person

Q. What are the latest drugs in the pipeline that could make a difference to people with HIV in terms of lesser side effects or reduce the amount of medications that have to be taken?

A. There are a few drugs in the pipeline. An example of a drug that is taken once a day is Efavirenz. However, it must be taken in combination with two other drugs.

Q. Does the urine of an AIDS person contain the HIV virus?

A. Yes, it does. However, you would not get infected by touching the urine. The HIV virus does not transmit this way.

Q. Why in some cases a person who is infected with the HIV virus does not develop AIDS for many years?

A. Once the HIV virus enters the body, it begins to replicate and destroy the white cells (CD4 cells) and once the CD4 drops to a certain value a person then has entered the stage we consider as AIDS.

Q. How effective are the drugs available at present in arresting HIV? what is the life expectancy in treated and untreated cases?

A. The drugs will increase the white cell count and reduce the viral load to undetectable levels but it will not eradicate the virus. Combination drug therapy has only been used for the past 6 to 7 years. The majority of patients on this therapy are doing well.

Q. How does the presence of other STD infections influence the likelihood of a person getting the HIV infection?

A. When there is STD's, you are likely to have ulcers or breaks in the skin which allow the HIV virus to enter the body

Q. Is there a method to detect whether a person has AIDS before HIV antibodies are present in the blood?

A. HIV antibodies will be present in the blood before AIDS develops. AIDS is the advanced stage of HIV infection.

Q. How many types of aids virus are there?

A. Basically there are two main types: HIV-1 and HIV-2.

Q. What is the likelihood of a person getting AIDS if he or she has sex with an infected person, in terms of percentage?

A. With unprotected sexual activity following 1 occasion of receptive anal intercourse the rate of infection is between 0.1% to 3%. Following receptive vaginal intercourse the rates of infection is 0.1% to 0.2%. Whereas for insertive vaginal intercourse rates of infection after one exposure are 0.03% to 0.09%. With multiple sexual exposure the risk of transmission is much higher. It is worse with multiple partners and those with HIV infection but untreated. With multiple sexual exposure the risk of transmission is much higher. It is worse with multiple partners and those with HIV infection.