HIV exposure and transmission

HIV exposure occurs when HIV infected body fluids (such as the blood or cum of an HIV positive man) come into contact with another person's blood stream. This could be as a result of unprotected fucking, sharing needles or sex toys or through oral sex.

HIV transmission occurs when an HIV negative man is exposed to HIV and the virus infects the cells in his blood stream. He then becomes HIV positive. An HIV test can be used to detect an HIV infection three months after HIV has been transmitted.

HIV is not as infectious as some other viral diseases. If you have sex with someone with HIV and are exposed to the virus, it does not necessarily mean that you will become HIV positive. Not every incidence of HIV exposure leads to the transmission of HIV. In fact very few do. There are no exact figures for how often HIV transmission occurs when a person is exposed to HIV. Some research indicates that the likelihood of HIV transmission when a negative man is exposed to HIV by getting fucked by an HIV positive man without using a condom is around 3%. The likelihood of exposure resulting in transmission as a result of oral sex is much lower.

You can protect yourself or your partner from HIV by ensuring that exposure to HIV does not occur, or by reducing the likelihood of transmission if HIV exposure happens. Behaviours that prevent exposure to HIV are vastly more reliable at stopping HIV than methods which attempt to reduce the likelihood of transmission. In fact, if you only attempt to prevent transmission of HIV, rather than exposure to HIV, you will probably become infected with HIV (or if you have already have HIV, pass the virus on to someone else).

Methods for preventing HIV exposure include using condoms, only having sex with other HIV negative men if you are HIV negative (sero-sorting) or only having the kinds of sex that carry no risk of HIV transmission.

Methods for reducing the likelihood of transmission include taking Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP), fucking without cumming (withdrawal) or being the insertive partner if you are HIV negative.

Further information on preventing exposure to HIV and reducing the likelihood of transmission is provided in the following sections: