HIV and Sex: Pregnancy

Earlier this week I took my HIV test at a clinic in Viera. What was most strange about my experience was that when I scheduled it I thought nothing of it and was completely fine with the whole situation. However, as I began to drive to the clinic I became nervous and wondered why? When I checked in I began to feel strange as if I did something bad and then when the nurse came in to see me I felt as if she thought I was a bad person or was scared to touch me. I know it sounds strange, but thats how I felt. Moreover, from the information I have read and learned I know that some people who have HIV are drug users or homosexuals, so I then began to wonder if she thought I was a drug user or gay. The whole situation made me feel uncomfortable and strange. I wonder if someone who really is HIV positive feels or felt the same. This uncomfortable and nervous feeling. I the end I explained to the nurse why I was taking the HIV test and she answered a lot of my questions about the disease and gave me insight that was great for my knowledge. In the end I was glad to have the experience.

Furthermore, this week I will be talking about HIV and pregnancy. Since HIV and Sex is my interest I have included this topic because what happens when an individual gets pregnant and is HIV positive. More specifically, due to modern medicine what can the mother do or stop doing to decrease the chances of her child becoming HIV positive as well. Therefore, risk factors that increase the risk of transmission include: "smoking, substance abuse, vitamin A deficiency, malnutrition, infections such as STD's, quantity of HIV virus in the blood, factors related to labor and childbirth, and breast-feeding" (HIV/AIDS during pregnancy, 2007) If a women is infected she can reduced the risk of her child becoming pregnant by staying healthy as possible and receiving new treatments that can reduce the risk to 2 percent or less (HIV/AIDS during pregnancy, 2007). I hope that you found this knowledgeable and see you soon!

Source:

Web: HIV/AIDS During Pregnancy (2007, April). Retrieved September 29, 2009, from http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/hivaids.html

HIV and Sex: Africa and Prevention

This past week I learned a lot from the module that was do. Learning how HIV works and affects the immune system is important and must be understood to fully understand the disease. Also, reading articles about HIV and sex has also educated me a lot. In saying that here is my weekly report.

To continue this weeks conversation on HIV and Sex I will look back at my first blog and the article I cited for that blog. If you have not read my first blog I would encourage you to do so before you read this one, as there is a connection between the two. The issue at hand is the number of HIV infected individuals in South Africa that continue to participate in high risk behaviors such as unprotected sex. I questioned why these prevention programs in South Africa were not as affective as they should be. That the number of infected individuals is not declining, but in fact unchanged or increasing. Why are these prevention programs not working? In the article titled “HIV/AIDS: Sex, abstinence, and behavior change” the author gives a valid reason to answer this question. He states, “prevention messages make naïve assumptions about sex in African societies that fail to engage with diversity and the social and economic context of sex. Sex in the very diverse circumstance within Africa and within African countries is not necessarily the same as sex in those societies and policy communities driving prevention agendas via their funding programmes. We cannot ignore the realities of how poverty and social isolation – which are rife across sub-Saharan Africa – can influence lifestyles and place young men and women at risk. Neither can we ignore the customs and practices around sexuality that may form and frame people’s desires and practices” (Barnett and Parkhurst, 2005). Moreover, many African men and women in South Africa participate in HIV high-risk behaviors due to ritual and cultural ceremonies, not merely because they solely want to have sex. Also, women are put into certain situations in which they “deploy the important and valuable resource of their bodies as part of a livelihood strategy when the alternative may be hunger or more arduous and time-consuming ways of earning a living” (Barnett and Parkhurst, 2005). Therefore, Barnnett and Parkhurst are stating that while prevention programs are focusing on abstinence, reduction in partners, and condoms, they suggest the prevention program take a more dynamic outlook to the situation at hand. That prevention programs need to “understand and address the socioeconomic and cultural realities in which sexual behaviors are shaped. Prevention strategies must explicitly aim to provide local communities, and local leaders, freedom to shape interventions to local circumstances, and to local understandings “ (Barnnett and Parkhurst, 2005). That a prevention program cannot merely be a simply A – B – and C, but it must be tailored and molded to fit each community and its values, culture, economy, and other characteristics that make that community unique (Barnnett and Parkhurst, 2005). I wonder if this strategy might work or is working. Do you think so? I believe this idea is better then just merely an all around abstinence, reduction in partners, and condoms program. It gives the program more personality, which might be beneficial.

Sources

Barneet, T. and Parkhurst, J. (2005). HIV/AIDS: sex, abstinence, and behaviour change. Lancet Infect Dis, 5, 590-593.

HIV and Kissing

Ok, so this week I decided to take the native transfusion if my life was on the line. I made this decision because just like any medical procedure there is risk, but you take that risk to become healthier in the future. I thought about it and waiting for American blood was just too risky as my life was in danger waiting for blood that might not even come in time.

Moreover, last week I wrote about HIV and Sex. I will continue to write about how HIV affects sex and everything that comes with it such as kissing, emotion, and etc. This subject interest me because HIV is passed from one person to another easily through sex and other activities that come along with it. Also, most individuals use sex and the activities that come along with it as way to show affection and show someone how much they care about them. So, this week I will be talking about HIV and kissing. I came up with this topic because my brother asked me if someone could get HIV from kissing? Honestly, I did not know what to tell him so I researched it and here I am. Also, as a 23 year student I have seen many random people kissing each other. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen my friends kiss some random person at a bar, spring break, at a club, and the list goes on. Also, I am pretty sure if your reading this you have witness similar situations. However, what are the dangers of kissing a random individual that you know nothing about? What if they are infected and you do not know? Or what if they do not know? Can you get infected by kissing each other and are there any dangers in kissing. This can also apply to people in relationships and whoever is interested in this topic.

So, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that "HIV is not transmitted casually, so kissing on the cheek is safe, and even if the other person has the virus, your unbroken skin is a good barrier. Furthermore, no one has become infected from such ordinary social contact as dry kisses, hugs, and handshakes" (Can I get HIV from kissing?, 2006). But what about open mouth kissing. I see a lot of my friends open mouth kissing though, so can open mouth kissing become a danger? To answer this question, YES. According to the CDC "open mouth kissing is considered a very low-risk activity for the transmission of HIV. Prolong open-mouth kissing could damage the mouth or lips and allow the HIV to pass from an infected person to partner and then enter the body through cuts or sores in the mouth" (Can I get HIV from kissing?, 2006). The CDC even goes on to say that because of this possible risk, it recommends against open-mouth kissing with an infected partner. The CDC also cites a case in which a women became infected with HIV from exposure to contaminated blood during open-mouth kissing (Can I get HIV from kissing?, 2006). So there are the facts from a reliable source and the next time you open-mouth kiss some random individual you might want to think twice. Just food for the brain.

An organization in Singapore called Action For AIDS helps individuals with HIV and AIDS. Their objectives are to provide support and assistance to people living with HIV and AIDS, increase awareness, education, and understanding of AIDS and HIV infection, to combat discrimination and stigmatization of HIV and AIDS, and to encourage AIDS-related research activities in Singapore (Action for AIDS Singapore, 2009).

Sources

Web: Action For Aids (2009, Sept.). Retrieved September 16, 2009, from http://www.afa.org.sg/

Web: Can I get HIV from kissing? (2006, Oct. 20). Retrieved September 16, 2009, from http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/qa/qa17.htm

HIV and Sex

Before enrolling in this class I was aware of a couple of things. One being that an individual can get infected with HIV by sexual intercourse. However, I questioned a couple of things such as did one partner know he/she was infected, but decided not to tell the other individual? Did drugs play a factor into obtaining this infection through sexual intercourse? Other questions similar to this ran through my head and still do, so when I found an article on this subject I knew I had to include it in my first blog.

The title of the article is "HIV transmission risk behaviors among HIV seropositive sexually transmitted infection clinic patients in Cape Town, South Africa." What the authors found were that a "significant minority of HIV-positive men and women receiving sexually transmitted infection (STI) clinic services reported recent unprotected sex with known uninfected or unknown HIV status partners" in Cape Town, South Africa (Cain et al., 2009). Now, I struggle to find out why anyone would continue to participate in unprotected sex when they tested positive for HIV? I know that Africa has the highest percentage of individuals who are HIV positive. I wonder if this is because many people here are not educated enough in preventing this disease from spreading. Obviously, there needs to be more positive prevention interventions here in South Africa. To give this topic some mathematical meaning the study stated, "among south African HIV-positive sexually transmitted infection clinic patients, 16% reported engaging in unprotected intercourse with a uninfected partner in the previous month" (Cain et al., 2009). This study also found that "unprotected sex with uninfected partners was independently associated with older age, female gender, alcohol use and other drug use in sexual contexts" (Cain et al., 2009). This article came out about month ago and is recent. What worries me, however is that in 2009 situations such as being HIV-positive with a sexually transmitted infection and having unprotected intercourse should not happen. More education needs to be provided in this area to stop or decrease the number of HIV-positive individuals in South Africa. I believe that the more knowledge that this individuals can obtain will help this situation in the long run. Can anyone think of anything else that can help this situation besides educating people in this area more about HIV and sexual intercourse? I hope this article and blog brought knowledge and interested to you readers.

SOURCE:

Cain, D., Kalichman, S. C., Simbayi, L. C. (2009). HIV transmission risk behaviours among HIV seropositive sexually transmitted infection clinic patients in Cape Town, South Africa. European Journal of Public Health, 1-5. doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckp127