Hiv Prevention facts
While investigating facts about Hiv Prevention, I found out little known, but curios details like:
A drug exists that has been shown to prevent HIV infection at a 92% success rate for gay men and a 70% success rate for intravenous drug users, but less than 1% of at-risk people currently take the drug and only 1/3 of primary care doctors have even heard of it.
Steve Crohn was one of the first studied cases of HIV immunity. His Immunity was due to a mutation in the CCR5 delta-5 receptor of CD4-t*cells, this prevented the virus from "entering" the immune cell. He committed suicide at the age of 66 after most of his friends died from the disease.
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 31 of the best facts about Hiv Prevention I managed to collect.
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Christine Maggiore was an activist with HIV who said it didn’t cause AIDS. She convinced thousands of people not to test for AIDS and to have unprotected sex. When she got pregnant she didn’t use medication to prevent the risk of transmission; her daughter died at age 3. Maggiore died of AIDS.
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AIDS denialist Christine Maggiore who refused to treat her own HIV or take any drugs that would prevent her from passing HIV to her daughter through pregnancy or breastfeeding died of AIDS.... 3.5 years after her daughter died... of AIDS.
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Brazil went against pharmaceutical giants to become a model on HIV prevention and the United States was the only abstention in a UN meeting that declared HIV drugs to be a human right.
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If you think you have been exposed to HIV within the last 72 hours, you can take HIV medications in a process called post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) that has a very good likelihood of preventing you from becoming infected
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There is a pill that can help prevent HIV it is up to 99% effective
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A type of condom that delivers an anti-HIV drug, prevents pregnancy, then disappears.
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Lambskin condoms, which are universally claimed to afford no protection against HIV, are in fact probably more effective at preventing the spread of HIV than latex condoms
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After Pope Benedict's 2009 comment that condom distribution isn't helping the fight against AIDS in Africa, Dr Edward Green, director of Harvard's HIV Prevention Research Project, agreed, saying that, unlike in other regions, condoms haven't been effective, compared to promoting monogamy.
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UC-Berkeley professor and AIDS denialist Peter Duesberg used his standing and credentials to convince SA president Mbeki against allowing life saving HIV medication, leading to thousands of preventable deaths. He is still a tenured biology professor there.
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Medical treatment (PEP) exists, that if started within 72 hours after exposure to HIV, like via unprotected sex or IV needle sharing, and maintained for a month, is up to 99% effective at preventing HIV infection.
What is true about hiv prevention?
You can easily fact check it by examining the linked well-known sources.
There is a drug you can take to prevent contracting HIV for those who are more at risk to contract it
A 2008 article in Science titled "Reassessing HIV Prevention" found programs which discourage promiscuity in AID-effected African countries were more effective than condom distribution - source
There are Pre Exposure drugs (called "PrEP") that can be prescribed as an effective measure to prevent contracting HIV (like 'the pill' for pregnancy, but 'PrEP' for HIV prevention). - source
Male Circumcision is used as a preventive measure against HIV's spread in Africa.
About a preventative treatment for AIDS for those who are HIV negative, but have higher risk of getting an HIV infection. World Health Organization "strongly recommends men who have sex with men consider taking antiretroviral medicines as an additional method of preventing HIV infection." - source
A drug called Truvada was approved in 2012, which if taken daily has a greater than 99% chance to prevent HIV infection.
There is a preventative HIV drug - Truvada
In 2006 Jacob Zuma said showering after sex with a HIV+ person to prevent infection was just the same as washing your hands after peeling onions to clean them.
New Haven, Connecticut (and I'm assuming many other cities) have a needle exchange program. They have a van that drives around the city and gives out free syringes to prevent HIV.
Circumcision reduces the risk of acquiring HIV by 60% and is recommended by the WHO as a preventative measure
Ugandan men complain that condom sizes are too small and could fail to prevent HIV.
