Oral anal contacts

Sexual contact is the most common route of HIV transmission. Given the importance of sexual transmission in the HIV epidemic, many HIV prevention strategies have focused on identifying and promoting safer-sex practices. As the name implies, these practices are thought to be "safer" than other sexual practices in that they help reduce but do not necessarily eliminate the risk of transmitting HIV from one sexual partner to another. Clinicians and health educators often have the unique opportunity to discuss topics of an intimate nature in a professional setting. With this privilege comes the responsibility to be respectful and nonjudgmental.

A total of healthy male sexual contacts of men with either acquired immunodeficiency syndrome AIDS or an AIDS-related condition were recruited into a prospective study in Toronto, Canada between July and July At induction, data were collected on the sexual relationship between the contact and his primary case, sexual activities with other men, history of sexually transmitted diseases and other diseases, and use of recreational drugs. At recruitment, sexual contacts had antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus HIV ; of the contacts were seronegative at induction and at three months following recruitment. No association between HIV seropositivity and total number of sexual partners could be demonstrated.

This paper presents a mathematical model of heterogeneous mixing which is designed to explore the effects of partner selection on the transmission patterns of sexually transmitted diseases. The model generates a symmetric matrix of the rate of sexual contacts between individuals categorized into discrete population subgroups. Sexual pairing results from a process with three separate stages: 1 social contact, 2 acceptance as a potential sex partner, and 3 initiation of sex in response to the needs and standards of each partner.