PEGym is your source for all aspects of male enhancement, whether it’s penis enlargement, improving stamina, erectile dysfunction, or more. However, we also aim to be your complete source for male sexual health, including information on sexually transmitted diseases.

As always, if you suspect you may have been exposed to a sexually transmitted disease, please consult a medical professional. Early detection and treatment can make all of the difference. If you feel you have been exposed to an STD, the only thing you can do to ensure it is not spread is to abstain from sexual contact with others.

What is HIV

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system. The T cells of the body are attacked, which prevents your body from being able to fight off infections. Without these critical cells, your body cannot fight off infections, diseases and infection-related cancers. Over time, HIV destroys so many T cells, that the person’s weakened immune system leads to the development of AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome).

How Do You Get HIV?

The HIV virus is only spread through specific bodily fluids. These include:

• Blood
• Semen (cum)
• Pre-seminal fluid (pre-cum)
• Rectal fluids
• Vaginal fluids
• Breast milk

When these fluids come into contact with another person’s mucous membrane or damaged tissues (such as a cut or sore) or directly injected into a person’s bloodstream, virus transmission occurs.  Mucous membranes are found:

• Inside the rectum,
• Inside the vagina,
• Penis, and
• The mouth.

With this in mind, HIV is spread primarily via:

• Having anal or vaginal sex with someone who is infected with HIV.
  • Anal sex is the highest-risk sexual behavior.
  • Vaginal sex is the second highest-risk sexual behavior.

• Sharing needles or syringes, rinse water, or other equipment (“works”) used to prepare injection drugs with someone who has HIV. The HIV virus can live in a used needle for up to 42 days!

Less common ways HIV can be spread include:

• From mother to child during pregnancy, birth, or breastfeeding.
• Oral sex— fellatio, cunnilingus, or rimming
• Receiving blood transfusions, blood products, or organ/tissue transplants that are contaminated with HIV.  Rigorous testing in the United States and other developed countries has made this less likely to be a threat, over the last few decades.
• Eating food that has been pre-chewed by an HIV-infected person. Known cases of this are of infants being infected by infected caregivers.
• Being bitten by a person with HIV. There is no risk of transmission if the skin is not broken.
• Contact between broken skin (cuts, wounds, open sores) or mucous membranes and HIV-infected blood or blood-contaminated body fluids.
• Deep, open-mouth kissing. Although HIV is not transmitted via saliva, if an infected person has bleeding mouth sores or bleeding gums the disease can be transmitted this way.

What is the Treatment for HIV?

Once you have HIV, there is no currently known treatment to rid your body completely of the virus. This is a lifetime disease. Despite decades of research, as of the writing of this article, there is no known cure. Treatment, instead, is focused on minimizing the viruses effects on destroying the body’s T cells.

Treatment usually centers on antiretroviral therapy (ART). These therapies help control the virus, allowing those infected with HIV to live longer lives. ART prevents the HIV virus from multiplying, reducing the amount of virus in the infected person’s body. With less virus in the body, the infected person’s immune system has a better chance of fighting off infections and cancers.

How Do I Prevent Getting HIV?

There are several steps you can take to help minimize the chances you’ll be infected with the HIV virus. These include:

• Get Tested – Both you and your partner should be tested for HIV BEFORE having sexual contact.
  • If you or your partner test positive for HIV, follow all advice from your medical professional regarding how to move forward with any sexual contact.

• Use Condoms Every Time – Although condoms will NOT 100% protect you against HIV, they do lessen the chances of disease transmission, so should be used every single time you have sex.

• Don’t Use Drugs – In addition to not using needles, which can result in disease transmission if the virus is present on the needle, drug use, in general, is associated with increased sexually risky behavior, including sex with untested partners/multiple partners and unprotected sex.

• Never, Ever Share Needles – For any reason – never share needles.