Risks and Transmission 

HIV Transmission

HIV is passed from one person to another when there is a transfer of body fluids, typically blood, semen, vaginal or cervical secretions, from the infected person into the bloodstream of the other person. It is as well to remember that sufficient live virus or infected cells must be present in this fluid and that this body fluid must enter the other person through an effective route of transmission, i.e. there must be cells available to infect and inadequate defences to fight the virus.

Transmission occurs mainly through the following activities:

• Having unprotected vaginal or anal sex (without a condom);
• Sharing unsterilised needles, syringes, spoons, filters and water, used for injecting;
• Mother to baby, across the placenta, during childbirth or through breast feeding.

There are also other physical and social co-factors which can make transmission more or less likely: an important physical co-factor is the presence or damage to cells from other sexually transmitted infections. It is therefore important to have regular sexual health checks ( GUM services info.) for all sexually transmitted infections. Click here for A-Z of STI's. Social co-factors are discussed below under risk assessment.

Some people may be unaware that they are infected and the HIV infection can progress at different rates with different people. An infected person may remain perfectly healthy for a number of years, unaware that they carry the virus and are capable of infecting others. Although HIV can infect anyone, regardless of their age or sexual orientation, in the UK most people with HIV come from two main groups: men who have sex with men and people of sub-Saharan African origin.

Gay men are the group most affected by HIV in the UK. However, since 2003 more of the people newly diagnosed with HIV in the UK became infected through heterosexual sex than gay sex. The majority of these became infected with HIV when they were abroad.

For more facts and statistics about HIV click here.

Risk Assessment

Assessing risk is very hard as it will depend on so many factors which continuously change. Factors such as what you are doing, the order you are doing them in and whether or not you use condoms will all affect how at risk you are of catching HIV.

Vaginal and anal sex without a condom carry the highest risk and if you are a man having anal sex with other men without a condom then your risk of catching HIV is greater than the general population.

Using condoms or other barrier methods during sex will greatly reduce your risk of catching HIV. UNISEX provides low cost condoms, lubricant and free, confidential information on assessing personal risk in the drop-in.