Your highest risk for contracting HIV, is having unprotected sex (anal, vaginal, or oral) with someone who is busy becoming HIV-positive, who might think he/she is HIV-negative, but is in fact seroconverting. This is the time when the viral load is at its highest. In other words, it is actually statistically safer to have protected sex with someone who is HIV-positive, than it is to have unprotected sex with someone who thinks he/she is negative, but who is actually seroconverting.
Estimated per act risk for acquisition of HIV, by exposure route
Exposure route | Risk per 10 000 exposures to an infected source | Percentage |
Blood transfusion | 9 000 | 90 |
Needle sharing IDU | 67 | 0,67 |
Receptive anal intercourse | 50 | 0,5 |
Percutaneous needle stick | 30 | 0,3 |
Receptive penile-vaginal intercourse | 10 | 0,1 |
Insertive anal intercourse | 6,5 | 0,065 |
Insertive penile-vaginal intercourse | 5 | 0.05 |
Receptive oral intercourse | 1 | 0,01 |
Insertive oral intercourse | 0,5 | 0,005 |
(Source: Centre for Disease Control)
The risk of HIV infection in heterosexual couples
HIV-positive woman with low viral load | None | Extremely low | Some | High |
Only male with condom | Oral sex | Vaginal sex Anal sex* | ||
Only female with condom | Oral sex | Vaginal sex Anal sex* | ||
Both male and female with condom | Oral sex Vaginal sex Anal sex | |||
No condom | Oral sex | Vaginal sex Anal sex | ||
HIV-positive woman with high viral load | None | Extremely low | Some | High |
Only male with condom | Oral sex | Vaginal sex Anal sex | ||
Only female with condom | Oral sex | Vaginal sex Anal sex* | ||
Both male and female with condom | Oral sex Vaginal sex Anal sex | |||
No condom | Oral sex | Vaginal sex Anal sex | ||
HIV-positive man with low viral load | None | Extremely low | Some | High |
Only male with condom | Oral sex | Vaginal sex Anal sex* | ||
Only female with condom | Oral sex | Vaginal sex Anal sex* | ||
Both male and female with condom | Oral sex Vaginal sex Anal sex | |||
No condom | Oral sex | Vaginal sex Anal sex | ||
HIV-positive man with high viral load | None | Extremely low | Some | High |
Only male with condom | Oral sex | Vaginal sex Anal sex* | ||
Only female with condom | Oral sex | Vaginal sex Anal sex* | ||
Both male and female with condom | Oral sex Vaginal sex Anal sex | |||
No condom | Oral sex Vaginal sex Anal sex | |||
Both male and female HIV-positive | None | Extremely low | Some | High |
Only male with condom | Oral sex | Vaginal sex Anal sex* | ||
Only female with condom | Oral sex | Vaginal sex Anal sex* | ||
Both male and female with condom | Oral sex Vaginal sex Anal sex | |||
No condom | Oral sex Vaginal sex Anal sex |
* It is safer to withdraw even with a condom
The risk of HIV infection in gay couples
HIV-positive woman with low viral load | None | Extremely low | Some | High |
One female with condom | Oral sex Clitoral rubbing Shared sex toy | |||
Both females with condom | Oral sex Clitoral rubbing Shared sex toy | |||
No condom | Oral sex Clitoral rubbing | Shared sex toy | ||
HIV-positive woman with high viral load | None | Extremely low | Some | High |
One female with condom | Oral sex Clitoral rubbing Shared sex toy | |||
Both females with condom | Oral sex Clitoral rubbing Shared sex toy | |||
No condom | Oral sex Clitoral rubbing Shared sex toy | |||
HIV-positive man with low viral load | None | Extremely low | Some | High |
One male with condom | Oral sex | Anal sex* Shared sex toy | ||
Both males with condom | Oral sex Shared sex toy | Anal sex* | ||
No condom | Oral sex | Anal sex Shared sex toy | ||
HIV-positive man with high viral load | None | Extremely low | Some | High |
One male with condom | Oral sex | Anal sex* Shared sex toy | ||
Both males with condom | Oral sex | Anal sex* Shared sex toy | ||
No condom | Oral sex Anal sex Shared sex toy | |||
Both females HIV-positive | None | Extremely low | Some | High |
One female with condom | Oral sex | Clitoral rubbing Shared sex toy | ||
Both females with condom | Oral sex Clitoral rubbing Shared sex toy | |||
No condom | Oral sex | Clitoral rubbing Shared sex toy | ||
Both males HIV-positive | None | Extremely low | Some | High |
One male with condom | Oral sex | Anal sex* Shared sex toy | ||
Both males with condom | Oral sex | Anal sex* Shared sex toy | ||
No condom | Oral sex | Anal sex Shared sex toy |
(Source: Morbidity and mortality weekly report: January 2005, CDC)
* It is safer to withdraw even with a condom
Estimates published in the annual “UNAIDS Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic” in 2002 estimate that more than 40 million adults and children were infected with HIV around the world in 2001. Africa south of the Sahara desert accounts for 28 million of these adults and children. A recent study by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) which was published in December 2002 estimated that 11.4% of South Africans (4.5 million people) are currently living with HIV/AIDS. Also this study clearly demonstrated that young women in South Africa in the age group 25-29 are more at risk for HIV infection.
This data is also supported by the annual Department of Health Ante-natal clinic (ANC) surveys that showed about 24.8% of pregnant women were HIV positive in 2001. This in turn indicates that many thousands of babies would have been infected by their mothers in South Africa during 1999 to 2001. By the end of 2003, it is estimated that there were 1 100 000 AIDS orphans (mother or both parents lost to AIDS) under 15 years of age in South Africa. During 2003, 370 000 people died of AIDS in South Africa.