Condoms and AIDs

[princess_ballet]

Do condoms protect against AIDs? My friend and I weren't sure. Both of us had heard conflicting reports about it.

 

[raptor13]

hm... let me put it this way... condoms are only 87% or so effective at blocking sperm.

the HIV virus is 100 times smaller than sperm.

you can do the math.

 

[princess_ballet]

Yes, that is what I heard. But I've been hearing in my class we should be handing out condoms in Africa to stop the spread of AIDs, but I didn't think this would help any.

Thank you very much.

 

[princess_ballet]

CONDOM MYTHS

Condoms don't work: Condoms prevent HIV transmission very well if they are used correctly every time you have sex.

Condoms break a lot: Less than 2% of condoms break when they are used correctly: no oils with latex condoms, no double condoms, no outdated condoms.

HIV can get through condoms: HIV can not get through latex or polyurethane condoms. Don't use lambskin condoms.

http://www.aids.org/factSheets/153-Condoms.html

 

[Dream]

Princess_ballet, from almost every source that I've read from, the percentage of condoms that break are very high. It really leaves me to wonder why anybody take a risk like that.

From what I've heard, the biggest problem with AIDS in Africa is the lack of eduaction. People just don't know what it is or how they get it.

 

[EllenMoran]

pb, the reason you see different percentages with breaking, etc. is because some people quote "perfect use" percentages while others quote "actual use" percentages. The "perfect use" percentage will almost always be significantly higher than the "actual use" percentage because people don't follow instructions perfectly.

HIV can be spread through bodily fluids, which is not limited to those exchanged during sex -- it's why hospital workers, etc. have to be so careful about handling the blood of someone who might be HIV+. So, while condoms would help slow the spread of AIDs if we assume all those people would have the same amount of unprotected sex otherwise, it is certainly not as effective as abstinence, nor is it going to have any effect on the other methods through which the disease is spread (blood, needles, etc.).

 

[Cosmic Charlie]

This is how its works (According to the department of Health and Human Services in my state, which is, of couse, a state of shock)

Aids is spread through bodily fluid to bodily fluid contact via intimate contact. This is to say that you have to swap blood, saliva, etc. with someone directly into your body. Blood on blood through an open sore or wound is the most effective way to get Aids.

Now, the idea of a condom isn't that it can't let the Aids virus through, indeed it could. Latex is poroous enough to allow a virus to pass through it. The important observation is that an Aids virus had no know means of locomotion and the condom puts distance between the two parties involved, in whatever they are involved in.

If an Aids virus were to be enlarged to be the size of a man the cooresponding distance that an Aids virus would have to travel to get from the outside wall of a condom to the inside wall would be about from the earth to moon (actually a bit longer than that, but you get the notion.) The Aids virus simply has no way of traveling that distance so infection is prevented.

Now capillary action is a possibility I suppose, but it would require a fiuld vacuum to create the siphon effect and all human bodily fuilds are, or course, carbon molecular based and are too large to pass through a condom. Even pure water is several hundred times too big to pass through a condom.

This leave breakage. Now condom structural failure is bad under any circumstances of use. But under currect suggested use for safe sex it not catastophic. Aids does not get around terrible well and may require repeated contact for infection so even in case of breakage a condom does provide some protection and using it is certainly better then not using it.

Also, practice studies of condom usage have shown that when used as recommended the insidence of progressive Aids infection drops 80 to 85%, this suggests that is is a very effect means checking the spread of Aids.

 

[princess_ballet]

Well that seems to make sense.

And I'm not saying I would even take that risk...no way, no how...

 

[Paul S]

Let's also not forget that the use of condoms is immoral, and we cannot use immoral means to achieve a good end. Of course, if you bring that up in class, be prepared for great disagreement.

 

[Rosa Mystica]

unprotected sex

Rosa hates this term.

Regardless of how well condoms work or not, who would be so stupid as to have sex w/ someone they believe might possibly have an STD? Even if the effectiveness rate of condoms was 99.99% against HIV, why even take a 0.1% chance of getting this DEADLY disease if it could be eliminated simply by not sleeping with anything that MOVED?

Sorry, I've had a frustrating day.

 

[ischus]

All the claims about condoms not protecting against HIV come from the Vatican. The US National Institutes of Heath, as well as the WHO both claim that condoms provide about a 90% protection rate against HIV.

 

[Dream]

All the claims about condoms not protecting against HIV come from the Vatican. The US National Institutes of Heath, as well as the WHO both claim that condoms provide about a 90% protection rate against HIV.

Would you get on a plane knowing it had a 10% chance of crashing?

 

[Rosa Mystica]

All the claims about condoms not protecting against HIV come from the Vatican.

This again.

Look, I'm sure that the media has probably twisted the Pope's exact words to some extent. I don't think that the Vatican ever said that condoms provide NO protection against AIDS. I think JPII only stated the obvious: that they can and do fail.

 

[ischus]

lol, sorry to get you guys upset. If you wish, you can show me some evidence to the contrary. I was just reporting what I have found from my research.

 

[Rosa Mystica]

lol, sorry to get you guys upset. If you wish, you can show me some evidence to the contrary. I was just reporting what I have found from my research.

Okay, where exactly did you get the idea that all claims about condoms not working are from the Vatican? The news? If so, don't trust the news. The media has already spread tons of vicious lies about the whole sex abuse scandal thing. Catholics are singled out to create media hype and boost ratings. Surely you must have seen this by now.

 

[ischus]

Okay, where exactly did you get the idea that all claims about condoms not working are from the Vatican? The news? If so, don't trust the news. The media has already spread tons of vicious lies about the whole sex abuse scandal thing. Catholics are singled out to create media hype and boost ratings. Surely you must have seen this by now.

I told you, I got it from the NIH and the WHO.

 

[Rosa Mystica]

I told you, I got it from the NIH and the WHO.

What, the 90% effectiveness claim? Or the claim that only the Vatican has stated that condoms don't work? Or both?

 

[ischus]

the 90% claim

 

[ischus]

Again, I am not trying to stir up trouble.

If you have a link that shows how condoms do not protect against HIV and that is not connected to the Vatican or the RCC I would love to see it. I am not saying its not true, I am just saying that I haven't seen any evidence for this. From the CDC and the others I have mentioned, I always read that condoms protect rather well against HIV. Maybe they are wrong...who knows.

 

[Dominus Fidelis]

You just said yourself there is a 10% chance of failure from your research on those sites, right?

I have a gun with 10 bullets. 9 are blanks. Care to play Russian Roulette?

The Vatican wants to stop AIDS with a 100% effective solution, not a 90% solution. Perhaps some people think 10% of the population is expendable, but the Vatican doesnt.