Re: Positive Prevention

[Guest guest]

I write this message to anyone and everyone who wishes to read this. There has

been recently a lot of information on the subject of people living with HIV who

have an undetectable viral load and free from other sexually transmitted

infections can have unprotected sexual intercourse with there partners (whether

they are HIV or not). This was reported after some research in a European

country.

My question to this group is should we concentrate on prevention messages (safer

sex) than looking at treatment as prevention?

I say all of this due to been told by certain professionals that condoms fail

and a female friend of mine was informed by a GUM Clinic nurse that it was OK

for her to have unprotected sex after her viral load was undetectable and after

over 5 years coming to terms with her status.

Finally after living with HIV for nearly 30 years it has always been my aim to

keep the pressures on authorities to promote safer sex for all.

Am I wrong sharing this and could someone on this group please guide me in what

I should do.

Snaith

[Guest guest]

Although the risks raised in this post are real (we could add Hepatitis C and

Hepatitis B to the list) and it's useful to discuss them, it's sad that this was

followed by statements of a kind which have long since been proven to be

ineffective and unhelpful. The either/or assertion and judgemental statement

present a false dilemma together with a false statement based on false

assumptions.

" The bottom line is, be monogamous...or use condoms. Anything else is just

selfish, and stupid. "

This is also simply not true.

There are a whole package of risk reduction measures available to folks that

don't require folks to choose between absolute monogamy and having more than one

partner, and allow them to weigh the risks of a given strategy against other

losses (including the side effects I discussed in my previous post.)

While it's true that folks make decisions (sometimes fully cognizant and

sometimes under the influence as discussed) that are not perfect, they

rarely make them because they are stupid. Many make them with their eyes wide

open and with a full understanding of the risks involved. They make them taking

into account the immediate and broader circumstance, including the fact that

they may already be chronically infected with other sexually transmitted

infections.

They also often make them mutually with their partner or partners, taking into

account the needs and desires of all parties involved, and this is the opposite

of selfish.

Any productive effort to end this pandemic through prevention rightly involves

discussions about personal responsibility but it must involve an equal measure

of understanding, emphathy, and recognition that each invidiual and each set of

circumstances is different.

mark

Mark Hubbard

Nashville TN

>

> Jeton:

>

> For those with undetectable viral loads and 100% adherence to meds, you

probably won't pass HIV to somebody else. But unless you are in a monogamous

relationship, you can definitely pass syphilis, gonorrhea, herpes, and HPV

(genital warts). The more partners, the more certainty that these STD's will be

very much a part of your life. And for the people with whom you are sharing

these STD's, you are making it more likely they will get HIV, because the

presence of another STD makes it easier to contract HIV. A life of constant

syphilis and warts does not sound pleasant.

> The bottom line is, be monogamous...or use condoms. Anything else is just

selfish, and stupid.

>

[Guest guest]

Jeton:

Actually, I have an amazing sex life with my partner of many years. I am poz, he

is neg. I have not had anal intercourse without a condom since 1986, because

that is when I received the message from GMHC that condoms were an effective

barrier against passing HIV (I was already poz at that point, but still didn't

know it). Since 1986, there were years I was single with many different

partners, and years when I was in relationships with one or few partners.

Because my viral load is undetectable, it would probably be near impossible for

me to pass my virus to my partner today, but we still don't want to take that

chance. We are monogamous so we could not pass other STD's to each other, but

nevertheless, we have great sex, with condoms. If I were single, I would also

use condoms. You can have a wonderful sex life with condoms, either monogamous

or with lots of partners. Condoms are not the devil - they have kept millions of

people, worldwide, from getting HIV, other STD's, or pregnant. They have given

us a freer world, allowing people to enjoy healthy sex lives, and minimizing the

risk of unwanted disease and conception. We have over 50,000 new HIV infections

every year in the U.S. Over 50% of these new infections are among gay males, and

we represent about 2% of the entire population. Two percent of the people

represent over fifty percent of the new HIV infections! You blame me and people

like me for the tragically high HIV infection rate in the gay male community,

because I urge everyone, not in a monogamous disease-free relationship, to use

condoms. But I honestly don't think that mentality is the problem. Your message

seems to be that to have a great sex life, it has to be condom-free, and I am

here to tell you that his is not necessarily true. Condoms saved many lives of

my generation. I am not sure when a latex barrier became such a thing of

disdain. But to me condoms represent life, and love, and great sex. And after

sex with a condom, you don't had to wonder about your " chemoprophylaxis, " nor do

you have to scrub with " nizoral and peroxide " like Meryl Streep in " Silkwood " .

You seem to have covered a lot of bases with your chemical and hygenic routine,

but it seems to me that for most people, using condoms would be much safer, and

simpler.