Abbie Smith is a graduate student studying the molecular and biochemical evolution of HIV within patients and within populations. She also studies epigenetic control of ERVs.
A life-goal of mine: Turn HIV-1 into herpes. An STD that sucks, you have to take meds for, you have to tell your partner about, need to worry about passing to your baby in childbirth, but not a soul crushing death sentence, anywhere.
But even though herpes has some behaviors HIV-1 needs, HIV has an important feature HSV-2 lacks-- Condoms kick ass at preventing HIV-1 transmission, but we werent sure if they worked all that well at preventing HSV-2 transmission. Cause HSV-2 is shed from epithelial cells (skin cells), and condoms dont cover all the skin thats shedding... so... *shrug*
Good news!
A Pooled Analysis of the Effect of Condoms in Preventing HSV-2 Acquisitionw00t!!Consistent condom users (used 100% of the time) had a 30% lower risk of HSV-2 acquisition compared with those who never used condoms (hazard ratio [HR], 0.70;
95% confidence interval [CI], 0.40-0.94) (P = .01). Risk for HSV-2 acquisition increased steadily and significantly with each unprotected sex act (HR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.08-1.25) (P= .001). Condom effectiveness did not vary by gender.
Sure, 30% lower risk for HSV-2 transmission isnt as great as 87% with HIV-1, but hey! Its something!
I think the news is even better than that-- This paper is an analysis of previously published data. Data from papers that were trying to assess the effectiveness of valacyclovir (Valtrex) and putative vaccine studies.
Except they only used data from the placebo groups!
Sooooo if you have HSV-2 and your partner doesnt, and you all always use condoms (ALWAYS GODDAMMIT. ALWAYS. NO EXCUSES.) aaaand you take valacyclovir once a day, youve got your risk of transmitting as low as you can get it with todays technologies/medicine!
Sweet!
Medicine & Health
Comments
It's really too bad condoms make the experience of sex about 10% as good as without them (at least for me; I don't know about for other men or for women). They smell funny, lube tastes terrible, and they dull sensation. Otherwise, I would call them a miracle.
Good thing I'm in a monogamous relationship with no prior partners on either side, so I don't need to use them. :)
Posted by: Uncephalized | July 14, 2009 11:29 PM
Good point, Uncephalized.
Posted by: William Wallace | July 15, 2009 2:01 AM
A long time ago my husband and I had to resort to condoms as part of the whole family planning fiasco. It was kind of fun, like we were doing something back when we were young and single. Kind of silly but at the time ... kind of naughty..still didn't last long and thank god for vasectomies (I know, the wrong person to thank).
Posted by: strip bubbles | July 15, 2009 2:20 AM
10% ? Are you sure you just weren't having very bad sex? I mean condoms are yes fun, sure, but I wouldn't say *that* much less fun. My main problem with them was that you kind of had to stop the action to get them on.
Good thing I'm (now) in a long-term relationship where my partner *did* use them previously, so I have no need of them either :D
Posted by: Lab Rat | July 15, 2009 9:03 AM
Old quote/joke:
"Just do what I do... wear 2 condoms all the time and then take one off for sex... feels great!"
Dennis Miller way back in his SNL days, if I remember correctly.(early aids awareness days)
Posted by: BAllanJ | July 15, 2009 9:25 AM
I like to use a Dayton 1323202 electric winch to lower myself up to my neck in a vat of hot 9 Shore A polyurethane elastomer prior to sex.
I’m married, disease free and my sister wives, who are also my cousins and I are trying to have children.
But I have this 9 Shore A polyurethane elastomer fetish you see and.......
Will you people please share less!
Posted by: Prometheus | July 15, 2009 9:45 AM
Sheesh, people complain about condoms! Clearly the trick is to just start using them from the first time, that way if there is some kind of sensation problem, you'll never notice it. And really, if you think the lube tastes bad, get better lube.
There are solutions to most of the complaints, you just have to put in a wee bit of effort. (I know people in the industry, and they work on this stuff all the time.)
Working in an HIV lab next to an HSV-2 lab, this is way cool stuff!
Posted by: JustaTech | July 15, 2009 1:48 PM
You are going to be ok Prometheus, just pick up some brain soap on the way home and give the old gray matter a quick scrub down. Just remember up and down not back and forth.
Posted by: the backpacker | July 15, 2009 1:52 PM
But how can this be?! His Holiness clearly says that condoms :spits: are like nets!
Ah well - some of us don't have to worry about STIs ...
Posted by: Sili | July 15, 2009 3:01 PM
Humm, isn't the reason we can't fully cure HSV-2 because it fortifies itself with French Coursairs and English Cavalry in a group of cells we can't get medication too?
If this is the case, then HIV-1, though stupidly difficult to develop a cure for due to it's high mutation rate, has a greater likelihood of curability once we have an effective attack vector.
Or am I totally wrong?
Posted by: ragarth | July 16, 2009 12:21 PM
HSV-2 hides in neurons.
HIV-1 hides in brains.
Prevention is the best cure, in both cases, which is where condoms come in!
Posted by: ERV | July 16, 2009 12:25 PM
Interesting! I didn't know HIV-1 did the alamo thing. Thank you for teaching me something new.
Posted by: ragarth | July 16, 2009 4:52 PM
And you can present HSV-1 downstairs too! So don't get complacent just because all you have is the "innocuous" type.
Posted by: Pony | July 16, 2009 4:53 PM
Woah, 30% isn't as much of an improvement as I would have hoped. Anti-virals reduce transmission by about 50%, and that didn't seem so great, either. But, I wonder which way they are measuring, FtoM transmission or MtoF transmission? It seems to me that condoms should work better at protecting men by covering glans and the metus* than for women who's mucous membranes remain unprotected from HSV shedding from areas not covered by the condom.
*and less so, I would guess, if body fluids aren't washed off before removal of the condom.
Posted by: OfCourseAnon | July 16, 2009 11:50 PM
And in a perfect world, that might work, (wrong) Answer Man. However, since we do *not* live in a perfect world, and never have, we need real-world solutions, not bumper stickers.
Oh, and keep your religious delusions out of my sex life, willya? It's your god, those are your rules, *you* follow 'em. Leave the rest of us alone.
Posted by: LanceR, JSG | July 22, 2009 9:52 PM
Shorter Answer boy: "Sluts who won't f*ck me should die."
That's some good, old-fashioned Puritan douchebaggery right there, boy howdy.
Posted by: minimalist | July 22, 2009 10:28 PM
Small side bet on whether Answerboy ever had extramarital sex?
Or any sex?
Posted by: Stephen Wells | July 23, 2009 5:21 AM
Sounds like someone has an anal fixation.
Here's a tip, dumbass. Don't assume anything about people you meet online. Until they explicitly tell you their politics/religion/sexual preferences, don't make assumptions. You'll seem less of a dumbass then.
Take your meds.
Posted by: LanceR, JSG | July 23, 2009 9:52 PM
I love moments like this. Poke the troll a little bit, and they bring the full-on crazy.
Love that Christian compassion! Yea, as Jesus spake unto Mary Magdalene, "GO DIE U DUM BIMBO, PLUS U CHARGE TOO MUCH 4 TUGJOBZ."
Posted by: minimalist | July 24, 2009 10:00 AM
And you gotta love the "Satanic communist fascist filth fudgepacker backer pigs" line. How's that one parse?
Looks like we have two sections, the "Satanic Communist Fascist" political/religious commentary, followed by the "filth fudgepacker backer pigs" word salad.
Satanic Communist Fascist? Unless I miss my guess all three of these are mutually exclusive. At a minimum, they are contradictory.
And WTF is a "backer pig"? Is he just misspelling "bacon"? BACON!
And I'd really hate to "get struck by lightening", too. Oh wait... I could stand to drop a few pounds. Maybe a little lightening.
I know... my wife keeps telling me not to mock the mentally ill. But I just can't help myself! It's a sickness. I deserve some compassion, too! Where's the tolerance? Where's the love? Where's the brownies?
Posted by: LanceR, JSG | July 24, 2009 11:54 AM