@hercules: consenting adults will do what consenting adults agree to do. There are no regulations, no community standards, no rules to the hobby. What is important is to understand the risks and take only those that you are comfortable with and realize that others may be engaging in riskier behavior; some of them with the partners you also see.
@ Black Sedan
Quote:
Originally Posted by Black Sedan
What statistics aren't released? They release data on % infected per country - are you talking about in local regions/metro areas?
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I am talking about the government website
http://www.cdc.gov and statistics that apply to the US.
herpes:
Quote:
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Genital HSV-2 infection is more common in women (approximately one out of five women 14 to 49 years of age) than in men (about one out of nine men 14 to 49 years of age). Transmission from an infected male to his female partner is more likely than from an infected female to her male partner.
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hpv (genital warts)
Quote:
HPV (the virus). Approximately 20 million Americans are currently infected with HPV. Another 6 million people become newly infected each year. HPV is so common that at least 50% of sexually active men and women get it at some point in their lives.
Genital warts. About 1% of sexually active adults in the U.S. have genital warts at any one time.
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Hepatitis:
Quote:
U.S. Statistics
• Estimated 25,000 new
infections in 2007
• Estimated 43,000 new infections in 2007
• Estimated 1.2 million people with
chronic HBV infection
• Estimated 17,000 new infections in 2007
• Estimated 3.2 million people with chronic HCV infection
Routes of Transmission
Ingestion of fecal matter, even in microscopic amounts, from:
• Close person-to-person contact with an infected person
• Sexual contact with an infected person
• Ingestion of contaminated food or drinks
Contact with infectious blood, semen, and other body fluids, primarily through:
• Birth to an infected mother
• Sexual contact with an infected person
• Sharing of contaminated needles, syringes or other injection drug equipment
• Needlesticks or other sharp instrument injuries
Contact with blood of an infected person, primarily through:
• Sharing of contaminated needles, syringes, or other injection drug equipment
Less commonly through:
• Sexual contact with an infected person
• Birth to an infected mother
• Needlestick or other sharp instrument injuries
from another page on their website
Is it possible for someone to become infected with HCV and then spontaneously clear the infection?
Yes. Approximately 15%–25% of persons clear the virus from their bodies without treatment and do not develop chronic infection; the reasons for this are not well known.
How likely is HCV infection to become chronic?
HCV infection becomes chronic in approximately 75%–85% of cases.
Why do most persons remain chronically infected with HCV?
A person infected with HCV mounts an immune response to the virus, but replication of the virus during infection can result in changes that evade the immune response. This may explain how the virus establishes and maintains chronic infection.
What are the chances of someone developing chronic HCV infection, chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, or liver cancer or dying as a result of Hepatitis C?
Of every 100 persons infected with HCV, approximately
- 75–85 will go on to develop chronic infection
- 60–70 will go on to develop chronic liver disease
- 5–20 will go on to develop cirrhosis over a period of 20–30 years
- 1–5 will die from the consequences of chronic infection (liver cancer or cirrhosis)
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HIV/AIDS:
Quote:
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In August 2008, CDC published the first national HIV incidence (new infections) estimates using new technology and methodology that more directly measure the number of new HIV infections in the United States. The first analyses, published in the August 6, 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), showed that in 2006, an estimated 56,300 new HIV infections occurred - a number that is substantially higher than the previous estimate of 40,000 annual new infections.
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Quote:
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that approximately 1.1 million persons are living with HIV in the United States.1 This number is expected to continue to increase over time, as antiretroviral treatments prolong the lives of those who are infected and more people become infected with HIV than die from the disease each year. As the number of people living with HIV—or HIV prevalence—grows, so does the opportunity for HIV transmission to others.
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My point is that over the years the subject and meaningful (to me) statistics have been very obfuscated on the CDC web site. The other diseases (the easily curable ones, I did not bother listing) have a simple fact sheet showing how many people in the
general population are infected with each disease.
Additionally, I know that prostitutes and their clients engage in riskier beahvior due to multiple partners and other lifestyle choices.
Consequently, I assume the rates of STD infection are higher in our community than the general population.
What galls me in that it takes a lot of research to get a hint of an idea how prevalent HIV is in the US. But statitsics in africa and some other poor nations are readily available and simple to understand.
I have watched and read the cdc web site for years now. In some ways, they are getting more clear with their data to the average layman. In some areas, they are not as clear.
The point is, we are all responsible for our own health and knowing the risks. Some people have many risk factors at play at one time. The IV drug using prostitute who is doing the sponge trick on her period is far more dangerous in the game as she is one of the greatest risk factors. We have some here and everyone needs to know that.
I hope I made my point clearer.
