DOUG%YSUB.BITNET@oac.ucla.edu (Doug Sewell) (11/17/89)
How vulnerable is a male to contracting the HIV virus from a female sexual partner ? Is circumcision (or lack thereof) a factor ? Is there a feel for the percentage of cases where females transferred the HIV virus to their male partners ? Doug
rwright@gatech.edu (Ronald K. Wright) (11/19/89)
DOUG%YSUB.BITNET@oac.ucla.edu (Doug Sewell) writes: >How vulnerable is a male to contracting the HIV virus from a female >sexual partner ? All of the above questions are subject to great dispute for several reashons. First, this is a sexually transmitted disease and people are less than candid about their sex practices. Also they exaggerate in both directions, depending on whim and to whom they are conveying the informtion. Second, this is a disease with an average "incubation" period of 10 years but which can appear in as little as two. Thus you have to deal with asking people who they have had sex with for a period of 10 or 15 years before 1987, covering say 77 through 87. Direct experimentation is not ethical. There is no good animal model. There is great importance, I think, of infection by Herpes, Yaws, syphlis and maybe gonnorhea. In third world countries F>M appears very high. In US and Europe only amongst drug users. >Is circumcision (or lack thereof) a factor ? In my view, too early to tell from data available. You have to adjust for socio-economic status. Not doing so would say circumscision is important. I doubt it though. >Is there a feel for the percentage of cases where females transferred >the HIV virus to their male partners ? See answer one. Also, most collectors allow only one risk group. The following questions are for a male. Question one, have you had sex with a man since 1985? If the answer is yes that is all of the questions, usually. The male is then homosexual/bisexual. Question two, have you used illegal drugs? (most inquiries seem to ignore route of administration) If the answer to that is yes then the person is "drug user" or more commonly "IV drug user" With data collected this way, I am highly skeptical that we can find much out about the transmission from it. -- R. K. Wright MD JD | office: medexam!rkw Chief Medical Examiner, Broward County | nova: novavax!rwright Associate Professor Pathology | home: medexam!love1!rkw University of Miami School of Medicine | fax: 305 765 5193
chet@retix.retix.COM (Chet Mazur) (11/22/89)
The risk from M->F x'fer seems to be the same as for F->M. This is based on research in Africa, where the majority of PWA's are heterosexual and you don't see a disproportionate amount of females infected (implying M->F is riskier) or vis-versa. As for being uncircumcised, this does put you at greater risk (again based on African research).... The reason is not known (yet) but it is suspected that the unretracted foreskin provides a great place for the virus to live (warm, dark, moist). Also the "un-cut" penis is much more sensitive and therefore subject to abrasion; with this allowing transmission.