Hello,

I hope everybody is doing well and want to than everyone for their insightful posts and help. I have a question which I would like anyone and everyone to reply or hear their opinion on something I have been thinking about. There are lots of sites and ads and so-forth about std's and hiv prevention everywhere which I think are very beneficial to the public in warning and advising in the spread of std's and hiv.

But i am very curious... Our high schools and youth are being taught about preventing std's and hiv transmissions but how exactly would one contract a std like herpes during hs. What I mean.. if two ppl have sexual relations with each other who are virgins or never in relationship, there is supposed to be no way they could contract a std or hiv. but if they do have sex with one another, they are not virgins anymore and they have sexual relations with other ppl who are and were not virgins. If they can't catch anything as virgins with one another how can they catch something from someone else who was once a virgin also and started having sexual relations with other ppl? does that make sense? How does someone contract a std in the first place. Are some ppl just born with it or just spontaneously get it. How can young ppl spread it, is it from older ppl who have it but they were once virgins and not involved in sexual relations and started getting involved like i mentioned b4. I know herpes dates back to the greek ages and where the word comes from but there has to be some kind of logical answer of how ppl get std's.

As far as HIV, how are so many young ppl apparently contracting it. I kinda know some history about how the epidemic started but are young ppl getting it from having sexual relations with older ppl. I heard it is the #1 killer for youth aged 18-24 or something like that.

Also, do any on ya'll sometimes think that our government exaggerates the stats of hiv infections as a way to protect us from contracting hiv or even preventing overpopulation? I am not saying that we should not think about bc it is very real and scary thing that is happening to lots of ppl everyday but by warning us in such a degree makes us think a lot more about what we are doing. Also they are able to make more money off of the tests, clinic, research etc...

This are just opinions and questions I have thought of and know some of you may think they are stupid but would honestly like to hear some of ya'll insight on this.

Take Care,

Curious G

Hi curious_g
Interesting questions to say the least!

Q1) Regarding transmission and young people, and born with it and virgins etc., I have no idea how to answer that other than to say people now have these diseases, they are amongst us and that is a fact of life. As for HIV, it supposedly originated from monkey's in Africa and had nothing to do with virgins etc. Did an african have sex with a monkey? No idea (lol)! Maybe someone else in this forum has a better clue.

Q2) I believe you are correct in stating that AIDS is now the number 1 killer in the USA amongst that age group. All the stats are at www.cdc.gov

Q3) Do you think the government is exaggerating about the number of HIV infections? NO! Absolutley not! In my opinion, they are probably higher because a lot of people don't get tested like most of the people do in this forum. If you don't believe the stats, go to a busy STD clinic in a big city and have a look at the number of people that go in and out. It is quite amazing and remember that this is just one clinic at one particular point in time. Start doing the math by multiplying the number of these clinics, cities, countries etc. Throw in multiple positive HIV results in these clinics every now and then and then you start to get a small idea of the magnitude of the problem.

I have mentioned this because it was the one thing that 'opened my eyes up'. I couldn't believe the amount of people I was seeing going into these clinics. I was dumbstruck as it was new to me. There are lots of different STD's out there and HIV is one of them.

Thankfully, other less serious STD's are easier to catch, but try telling that to someone who is HIV infected.

HIV is real and it is out there. Don't ever think it is not.

Longwaysouth

I've heard about the monkey transmitting the HIV/AID virus but it was most likely due to someone being bitten or something of the sort. Though you never know, someone may have had sex with one! There are some strange people out there :dizzy:

I thought the HIV stood for HumanImmunodeficiency Virus?

It's really confusing, they say the virus can only infect humans, how are animals supposed to give it to us when they can't get infected with it? :confused:

Ok, did a bit of research on the history of HIV and this is what I came up with in regards to the monkey theory:

Medical News
Researchers Have New Theory on Origin of AIDS Virus
New York Times
06.13.03; Donald G. McNeil Jr.
The same researchers who argued that humans probably first got HIV from butchering chimpanzees for food have traced the origin of the virus back one step further: to the monkeys that the chimpanzees ate. They believe the simian precursor to HIV was created in chimps that ate two kinds of monkeys with different but related viruses, red-capped mangabeys and spot-nosed guenons.

Scientists made the deduction by sequencing the genes of the simian immunodeficiency viruses in chimpanzees and 30 monkey species, and then compiling "family trees" to see which were most closely related. They believe two monkey viruses were involved because the virus from spot-nosed guenons was closest in the part of the genome that contains the code for the virus's protein envelope, while the virus from the mangabey was closest in a different segment.

There is no way to know when the two viruses merged inside one chimpanzee. Chimp virus has been found in two subspecies from central Africa, but not yet in the westernmost subspecies, nor in a related species found south of the Congo River. The virus's failure to spread to all chimpanzees before they diversified into subspecies suggests that it is relatively new, researchers said. Subspecies have been separated for eons by large rivers like the Congo and the Ubangi, since chimps cannot cross water.

The new conclusion is important, said Dr. Beatrice Hahn, a University of Alabama-Birmingham virologist and one of the authors, "because it shows that chimpanzees acquired their virus exactly the same way humans did, by hunting bushmeat." Neither chimps nor monkeys get sick from it.

Unlike the other great apes, chimpanzees are formidable hunters, often working together. Hunting males tear their catches limb from limb and eat them on the spot, share their carcasses or trade them to females for sex, so blood-to-blood contact from "open cuts or chomping on bones" is easy to imagine, one researcher said.

It is still unclear exactly how chimpanzees infect each other and why the disease is not more rampant among them, since they have many sexual partners and fight frequently, often biting each other, which in rare human cases has passed the virus. Nursing is surely one route, Hahn said, because some chimps captured in infancy are infected. The full study, "Hybrid Origin of SIV in Chimpanzees," appears in the Friday issue of Science (2003;300(5626):1713).

Just for anyone interested
Longwaysouth

I thought the HIV stood for HumanImmunodeficiency Virus?

It's really confusing, they say the virus can only infect humans, how are animals supposed to give it to us when they can't get infected with it? :confused:

Hey just thought that I would add my two sents. Animals can catch it, at least I know that cats can thers is a virus called FIV the f= feline for cats. Now I am pretty sure that I heard this some where but is waws a while ago. I was looking at some type of progeam where these cats had teh virus. I don't know how they got it, but I DON'T think that FIV could be passed on to humans and be transformed to HIV.

HOWDY
L.W.South How's it goin'

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to thank everyone for their replies and insight. Sorry, it took a while to get back but been away and honestly try to not check this site everyday wondering and worrying myself about hiv.

I guess no one has an answer of how ppl contract std's from one another at a young or old age which almost leads me to believe that some ppl are born with it or something reacts with their body to create it. i of course have not medical backing for this but am really curious abouts the orgin. We are told to be careful, use condoms, limit our partners, etc which i understand but appears that some of us already have it without doing anything possibly.


also, when i was speaking about the cdc exageratting the rate of infected hiv members, i was only saying this bc a site i checked out said that there was an avg of 40,000 new cases a year and a quarter or them do not know they are infected.. ( so how do they know if they are infected for sure or How?) also i read where some countries have reduced the amount by as much as 25% of infected. I understand and believe that there are ppl visiting clinics everyday to be tested but doesn't neccessary mean that they are positive and understand that the number of postive individuals add up from day to day and city to city.. They way our government publicizes the issue makes a lot of ppl go get tested which is a good thing but by maybe skewing the numbers some makes us think about our actions and controls the population some. These are just thoughts of course and not backed up by and scientific knowledge but i am a fan of stats and know that they can be read in different ways.

also, i did hear that the orgin of hiv came from a monkey who bit someone or somthing. I have also heard that they can carry the virus but doesn't affect them. I guess the chemical makeup of their immune system doesn't react the same just like some humans who apparently are carriers but doesn't affect them.

Has anyone seen Chris Rock's stand up? He speaks about aids and talks about the government and making money offf of it. I know he is a comedian but makes a point. We can send ppl to the moon but we can't find a cure for aids? the money is in the medicine. The government is one big drug dealer. this is just a comedy sketch but some of it speaks true. I have heard and read where the hiv drugs can do more harm than good.

any opinions??

no one is born with an STD. it is SEXUALLY transmitted. the way people are getting them is by having sex with someone who has an std.period. when people start to have sex, it is like a spiral or a web. it starts with one person then moves outward and sometimes in other directions. slip one or two "more experienced" people into the mix and pretty soon you have a web of hundreds of people. it only takes one person with hpv to spread warts to one person who may sleep with 3 who may sleep with 6 all spreading the wart virus before any symptoms show up. same with herpes. if you have a cold sore and have oral sex, you may have infected that person with herpes and then before they even think anything is wrong, 2 more people have been exposed.

the fact of the matter is this: only YOU know your sexualy history. you can not depend on other peoples word to protect you from a possible infection, no matter what the virus may be.

i think that demographic is odd, the 18-24 one. i think that is the entire world. when you factor that 85% of africa is infected and 18-24 year olds are very sexually active, i can see that. but not in america. there are only 40,000 cases of HIV reported every year and that number is going down. please don't think that if you are 18-24 you have a higher risk of dying of AIDS.