Question about HIV+

[Ela]

Unfortunately so many parents refuse sex education anyway,  so I am sure they would not allow AIDS education. Fools in my opinion,

[Emma S]

Yeah ela, good point - but I do think that if they were educated PROPERLY it would make a difference. And by that I mean an external sex ed teacher coming in and giving the kids the hard facts, no pussy-footing around. When I was taught sex ed in school it was my our home ec teacher which was just plain embarrassing as she was about 100 and everyone hated her...and cause I went to a church school we just got told not to have sex before marriage.

We also had it way too late - we were 16, by which point a vast number of girls in my school were already pregnant!

[Ela]

I wish the government would educate schoolkids more about AIDS.

They don't seem to be able to take in sex education so I would have thought they would not understand the implications of AIDS

[Elaine]

I think more education is definately needed on both HIV and FIV.  There is way too much stigma attached to both.

[Claire M]

Thanks for your replies,I did'nt think there was any danger but I don't know enough about it,I knew a girl that had several cats and one was FIV,(got it right that time-sorry!)his name was Bob and he was quite poorly much of the time,she was at the vets with him a lot,and he finally gave in to it,he had an infection that affected his breathing. I see a lot of door signs on my delivery saying beware of the cat,or chat le guarde ,now I know why!! 

[Emma S]

Yep, more education is definitly needed.

Re the sores / bleeding gums - it would be quite hard to get infected that way. Saliva contains enzymes that break down the HIV virus, as does stomach acid. From what I can remember there's only been one case of HIV transmission via saliva and that was becuase BOTH partners had very bad bleeding gums. As said before tho, if you had badly bleeding gums you wouldnt really be kissing people, would you?!

You can be infected via your mouth if you have cuts in your mouth, but only if something comes into contact with you that carries a large concentration of the HIV virus. So kissing a HIV+ person and having their saliva come into contact with a mouth cut will not transmit the virus, but giving oral sex or having someones blood come into contact with the cut could transmit the virus.

I wish the government would educate schoolkids more about AIDS. For a start, it would probably encourage them to have safe sex, and secondly, it would get rid of all the ridiculous rumours and get facts out - leading to less stigma for HIV+ people, who have an awful enough time as it is.

[Ela]

 
Sorry to hijack the thread, its just a topic that is close to my heart and one which I wish people could be educated more on. 

I agree, when I used to work many moons ago I was a first adier and we had a HIV specialist give a talk and it certainly opened a lot of peoples eyes.

[CurlyCatz]

ah i see.

well hiv or not im not snogging anyone at the moment 

i wasnt sure about the swallowing infected blood but now i know.

[Beccles]

Lynn all the people with HIV or AIDS I know would never ever be so callous as to snog someone if they were bleeding in their mouth... and frankly if you was in the habit of snogging someone you'd know if they had a sore mouth at the moment anyway!

If a person swallows infected blood its virtually impossible for that to infect them, stomach acid destroys it, if you BOTH had bleeding mouths etc then there could be a problem but errrr you probably wouldn't feel like sticking yer tongues down each other's throats then!

[CurlyCatz]

i thought the same about that until they were on about it on tv and re the kissing or stuff like that you have to be careful the infected person doesnt have bleeding gums or sores etc in their mouths apparently.

[Emma S]

Oh no, human HIV certainly cant be passed through just shaking hands. It also cannot be passed on via saliva, sweat, tears, urine etc...so it is quite safe to kiss HIV+ patients or use the bathroom after them! I have known people with HIV and the stigma assoicated with it is terrible - in fact my friend said that was one of the worst parts of the disease.

People wouldn't kiss him or hug him

Sorry to hijack the thread, its just a topic that is close to my heart and one which I wish people could be educated more on. 

[Ela]

I agree I would willingly shake hands with a person who had human AIDS

[Elaine]

Just wanted to say, even if it were a human with HIV behind the letter box who scratched you, the chances of you then becoming HIV+ are next to nil.  These things are contracted from blood to blood contact or the sharing of bodily fluids. 
I know you meant FIV but the same principles apply.

[Ela]

I agree FIV is absolutely a feline thing and transferable to nothing but other cats.

[CurlyCatz]

if it was transmissable i reckon there'd be quite a few of on here brown bread !! LOL

[Claire M]

Yes,sorry FIV+,glad you knew what I meant!! Thanks,yes it has put my mind at rest.

[Tiggy's Mum]

The feline equivalent is known as being FIV+.  It is NOT transferrable to humans and even cats that have FIV can live long, healthy lives.  Hope this puts your mind at rest.

[Claire M]

  Today when I was out on delivery (I'm a postie) I put my hand through a letterbox to push the mail in,and got my fingers scratched by a mischeivious moggie sitting behind the door,I laughed about it,even though it was quite sore and was bleeding,then got to thinking what would happen if the cat had HIV+,I don't know very much about the subject,should I be worried?