It's funny how some people are terrified of HIV when in reality, the risk of getting HIV is actually REALLY difficult, even while doing unsafe sex. The odds of getting it is at most 2 out of 1,000 times during unsafe anal sex - the most risky sex act. Odds of getting it from oral sex is 1 out of 10,000. It's not that easy to catch.
I have shared drinks or food with HIV+ friends and I don't think about it. I get tested once a year and it's still negative. I had gay friends who are negative and they worry about getting it from salsa despite the fact that there's no document of a person getting it from food! I laughed when they tell me about their dates with POZ guys and how they try to avoid touching them or not eating where they ate. Even gays can be stupid.
The odds of getting infected with blood transfusion is 90% - it's the MOST efficient way to transmit HIV. The 10% who didn't get infected probably have natural immunity to it.
I firmly believe that the reason for high HIV rate in Africa is malnutrition (so many of them have open sores) and genetics that make them vulnerable to HIV infection. The fact that half of HIV cases here is black shows that it's likely genetic.
While HIV is more manageable than ever, it's life changing and it is always a big deal. You have to deal with toxic side effects of medications. In fact, nowadays, most HIV+ people die from toxic side effects of HIV meds than AIDS. AIDS is becoming rare nowadays. The lifespan is about 10 years shorter than the average lifespan.
Anyway, the ban should stay here because of the window period where HIV cannot be detected but gays are also more likely to be infected with other viral infections such as HPV and some strains of hepatitis that won't be detected through blood tests because of their perceived low risk. Because gays are often networked with the same gays across the nation, it makes them more likely to get infected along. The tighter the network, the more risk they face.
So, yes, if I were given a choice to pick blood from Salt Lake City and DC, I'd pick SLC as statistics would show that SLC is less likely to have infections than people in DC. I'd even rather have blood from the whites than from the blacks because statistics consistently show that blacks have high rate of STD's, as much as 4 times more than whites. That's reality. It's sad that people make it a race issue because they are ignoring the REAL risks.
That mistake could as easily occur in a heterosexual who is HIV positive. Probably even more readily, since it would appear that no one even suspects the heterosexual as a carrier.
