All you need to know about HIV

[elt0n]

have been reading this thread alot cos had sex with one FL and the condom teared and ejaculated...really worried now but really don't dare take the test..keep thinking what if positive and i'm still so young, whole life will crumble..totally can't sleep/eat..just ranting here cos can't mention to anyone else..any bros here had similar experience?

whatever may come, made up my mind no more cheonging..just not worth it..really hope things will be fine (although a great part of myself feel it wouldn't..)

[Megatronzombie]

bro... if u got it (touch wood hope not), whether you go check or not, whether you young or not also doesnt matter. You dont want to infect anyone else by carrying on oblivious and later become even more guilty and regretful.. go take ur check bro...

[AfA_hmor]

You should also learn how to use condoms properly so that they won't break so easily. Read the instruction sheet & use lubricant.

[jbang]

Hi, i've banged and got BJs from WLs in HCs, all using CDs; last time was 6 mths back. Once I fingered wrongly and the gal was hurt, but no blood or anything, she just said she felt sore down there during the FJ. Don't really have any symptoms, but recently got hard of breathing. How high is my risk level? Am freaking worried, feeling lost but am afraid to test...

[peanut123]

Originally Posted by jbang

Hi, i've banged and got BJs from WLs in HCs, all using CDs; last time was 6 mths back. Once I fingered wrongly and the gal was hurt, but no blood or anything, she just said she felt sore down there during the FJ. Don't really have any symptoms, but recently got hard of breathing. How high is my risk level? Am freaking worried, feeling lost but am afraid to test...

Are you worrying too much ? Being hard of breathing is not a sympton of a HIV infection. With a flu bug going around, you've probably just got a flu.

[jizzonu]

hey bros, recently i got rashes on my left thigh n both my ankles, then at the same day, came fever(but i dun feel feverish at all, jus a bit weak). went to the clinic, say i may get viral infection. sent to the hospital, did a blood test, they say most probly is dangue fever. but after 15 mins in the room wif the doctor, she ask me if i got sexual contacts, after seein my rashes on the thigh.

after tt she sent me back and ask me to go to CDC on saturday, my fever is gone but not the rashes.

went to appt on sat at CDC, c the doctor, also say same thing, mayb viral infection. sent for another blood test, result out, say mayb dangue fever, cause some of the thing is decreasin in my blood. suddenly pop out the same question, got any sexual contacts. then ask me if i wan to do a HIV test, i agreed... now i very worried, use to french wif a thai in lorong 18, got 1 time condom break where inside her.

i'm lookin forward to tuesday now, for afa test... cannot sleep how? school got so many assignments but i got no mood to do anything at all....

[Big Sexy]

A world first: AIDS vaccine cuts the risk of HIV infection by 31 per cent in large Thai study

source
A world first: AIDS vaccine cuts the risk of HIV infection by 31 per cent in large Thai study - Winnipeg Free Press

Scientists working on how to improve AIDS vaccine that showed some success in huge trial | StarTribune.com


BANGKOK, Thailand - For the first time, an experimental vaccine has prevented infection with the AIDS virus, a watershed event in the deadly epidemic and a surprising result. Recent failures led many scientists to think such a vaccine might never be possible.

The World Health Organization and the U.N. agency UNAIDS said the results "instilled new hope" in the field of HIV vaccine research.

The vaccine - a combination of two previously unsuccessful vaccines - cut the risk of becoming infected with HIV by more than 31 per cent in the world's largest AIDS vaccine trial of more than 16,000 volunteers in Thailand, researchers announced Thursday in Bangkok.

Even though the benefit is modest, "it's the first evidence that we could have a safe and effective preventive vaccine," Col. Jerome Kim told The Associated Press. He helped lead the study for the U.S. Army, which sponsored it with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

The institute's director, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warned that this is "not the end of the road," but said he was surprised and very pleased by the outcome.

"It gives me cautious optimism about the possibility of improving this result" and developing a more effective AIDS vaccine, Fauci said. "This is something that we can do."

The Thailand Ministry of Public Health conducted the study, which used strains of HIV common in Thailand. Whether such a vaccine would work against other strains in the U.S., Africa or elsewhere in the world is unknown, scientists stressed.

Even a marginally helpful vaccine could have a big impact. Every day, 7,500 people worldwide are newly infected with HIV; 2 million died of AIDS in 2007, UNAIDS estimates.

"Today marks a historic milestone," said Mitchell Warren, executive director of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, an international group that has worked toward developing a vaccine. Warren was not involved in the study.

"It will take time and resources to fully analyze and understand the data, but there is little doubt that this finding will energize and redirect the AIDS vaccine field," he said in a statement.

The study tested the two-vaccine combination in a "prime-boost" approach, in which the first one primes the immune system to attack HIV and the second one strengthens the response.

They are ALVAC, from Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccine division of French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis; and AIDSVAX, originally developed by VaxGen Inc. and now held by Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases, a non-profit founded by some former VaxGen employees.

ALVAC uses canarypox, a bird virus altered so it can't cause human disease, to ferry synthetic versions of three HIV genes into the body. AIDSVAX contains a genetically engineered version of a protein on HIV's surface. The vaccines are not made from whole virus - dead or alive - and cannot cause HIV.

Neither vaccine in the study prevented HIV infection when tested individually in earlier trials, and dozens of scientists had called the new one futile when it began in 2003.

"I really didn't have high hopes at all that we would see a positive result," Fauci confessed.

The results proved the skeptics wrong.

"The combination is stronger than each of the individual members," said the Army's Kim, a physician who manages the Army's HIV vaccine program.

The study tested the combo in HIV-negative Thai men and women aged 18 to 30 at average risk of becoming infected. Half received four "priming" doses of ALVAC and two "boost" doses of AIDSVAX over six months. The others received dummy shots. No one knew who got what until the study ended.

Thanad Yomha, a 33-year-old electrician from southeastern Thailand, said he didn't expect anything in return for volunteering for the project.

"I did this for others," Thanad said. "It's for the next generation."

Participants volunteered for the study and were told about the potential risks associated with receiving the experimental vaccine before agreeing to participate.

All were given condoms, counselling and treatment for any sexually transmitted infections, and were tested every six months for HIV. Any who became infected were given free treatment with antiviral medicines. All participants continued to receive an HIV test every six months for three years after vaccinations ended.

The results: New infections occurred in 51 of the 8,197 given vaccine and in 74 of the 8,198 who received dummy shots. That worked out to a 31 per cent lower risk of infection for the vaccine group. Two of the infected participants who received the placebo died.

The vaccine had no effect on levels of HIV in the blood for those who did become infected. That had been another goal of the study - seeing whether the vaccine could limit damage to the immune system and help keep infected people from developing full-blown AIDS.

That result is "one of the most important and intriguing findings of this trial," Fauci said. It suggests that the signs scientists have been using to gauge whether a vaccine was actually giving protection may not be valid.

"It is conceivable that we haven't even identified yet" what really shows immunity, which is both "important and humbling" after decades of vaccine research, Fauci said.

Details of the $105 million study will be given at a vaccine conference in Paris in October.

This is the third big vaccine trial since 1983, when HIV was identified as the cause of AIDS. In 2007, Merck&Co. stopped a study of its experimental vaccine after seeing it did not prevent HIV infection. Later analysis suggested the vaccine might even raise the risk of infection in certain men. The vaccine itself did not cause infection.

In 2003, AIDSVAX flunked two large trials - the first late-stage tests of any AIDS vaccine at the time.

It is unclear whether vaccine makers will seek to license the two-vaccine combo in Thailand. Before the trial began, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said other studies would be needed before the vaccine could be considered for U.S. licensing.

"This is a world first which proves that vaccine development is possible," Supachai said. "But this is not to the level where we can license or manufacture the vaccine yet."

Mass-producing the vaccine, plus how to proceed with future studies, will be discussed among the governments, study sponsors and companies involved in the trial, Kim said. Scientists want to know how long protection will last, whether booster shots will be needed, and whether the vaccine helps prevent infection in gay men and injection drug users, since it was tested mostly in heterosexuals in the Thai trial.

The study was done in Thailand because U.S. Army scientists did pivotal research in that country when the AIDS epidemic emerged there, isolating virus strains and providing genetic information on them to vaccine makers. The Thai government also strongly supported the idea of doing the study.

[VParanoid]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your concern. Jus to share that my test result came out negative for the 3rd week and 6 weeks. I know test date bit too near but very anxious. Anyway, Next month do 3rd test and i think should be ok according to the doc who said his tested positive results normally at the 1st month but of coz got exception. Anyway now at least not so paranoid. So my 2 cents worth, for all bros who are worried, do the test, at least to get it off your mind if not for awhile. Its more worth it then many sleepless nites.

Good luck to all!

Cheers.

Originally Posted by HIVsucks_XXX

Good luck on the test, may yet be just a mental scare cos symptoms like these are not definite signs that you have been infected.

[Big Sexy]

HIV Statistics(Singapore)
HIV statistics update: 3 June 2009
Source
Ministry of Health: HIV Stats

[Big Sexy]

HIV Statistics(Singapore)
HIV statistics update: 3 June 2009
Source
Ministry of Health: HIV Stats

[Big Sexy]

Source MOH Singapore

Rapid HIV testing can only be conducted in a medical clinic by
trained clinic personnel, and only clinics which have participated in
an MOH training workshop on Rapid HIV Testing are allowed to offer
rapid HIV testing. For a list of these clinics which have participated
in an MOH training workshop on Rapid HIV Testing,
click here.

[nicholassoong81]

Hi Bros. Just wanna ask if there is any known case of HIV transmission in Singapore even though condom is worn? Officials and scientists always say that condom is highly effective if it is used consistently and correctly. I guess what this means is there is still a very low likelihood that one can contract HIV even if he wears a condom. Are there any such cases in Spore?

Tks

[Big Sexy]

nothing is 100% effective against HIV..
Condoms remains the best weapon we have got against it today.
however it is almost useless against other STD e.g herpes.

As for whether there are such cases... i dont know...
but here's the statistics ...it would well falls under uncertain..

Originally Posted by nicholassoong81

I guess what this means is there is still a very low likelihood that one can contract HIV even if he wears a condom. Are there any such cases in Spore?

[AfA_hmor]

A intact condom is effective in preventing the transmission of HIV. It basically forms a barrier which prevents the transfer of fluids from one person to another.

And in cases of sero-discordant relationships (meaning a couple, who one of them is HIV+ and one is HIV-), the negative partner remains negative.

If the condom breaks, or is not worn consistently & correctly, the effectiveness is of course very much reduced.

[Big Sexy]

Epidemiological Fact Sheets on HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections
figures release by WHO- Feb 2009
i love reading statistics

Thailand
http://apps.who.int/globalatlas/pred...EFS2008_TH.pdf

Singapore
http://apps.who.int/globalatlas/pred...EFS2008_SG.pdf