Test? what Test?

[Johnny Deep]

Hey everyone! I have only been a member on this site for a few months. During my visits I have watched and had conversations about safe sex. A lot of fellow swingers talk about having "parties" where sometimes they know most of the people there. When a person that is new to the party, they are required to have a "Test". Also a lot of "us" love to cum in our partner and our partners love for us to cum in them. I am under the impression that if you have sex with a person infected with HIV, then it can take up to SEVEN years to be detected on any test. During that time, that person can transmit the virus to others. So if that is true, then how can you be sure that the person with the negative test result for STD's hasn't come in contact with someone HIV positive? I know that most people say "oh well why don't you just use a condom?". That may sound GREAT, however what if one person in the group maybe has a Mild case of Gingivitis, then a condom doesn't work either. I might end up putting my wife at risk and vice versa. I am sorry if I sound paranoid, I have always tried to protect me and the one's that I love.

[VegasLee]

You are right, that test is good the day, moment it was taken and is pretty much void the second someone has sex with another person.

Tests tend to give people a false sense of security when it comes to STD''s to be honest.

In 30+ years of being in the Lifestyle we have not ever caught as much as a cold from others but that does not mean it cannot or will not happen at some time.

This is something that only you and your SO can decide. There is risk in all aspects of life, what risks are you willing to take in yours.

[highlander]

Actually, there are a couple factors here:
HIV tests vary quite a bit in how long they take to be accurate. The most common tests in use today test for antibodies and take about 3 months from time of infection to be 99% accurate in testing HIV infection. There are more expensive tests
that are accurate after 10 days or so(this PCR tests is available from aim-med.org and is the standard used for Porn Actors).

The dynamics of testing an entire group for a variety of diseases are different than testing one individual. If you are looking at the chance that someone in a tested swingers group has converted to being HIV+ you have to look at the amount of activity outside that group * the risk for each act. Also testing for a variety of diseases helps here(i.e. someone with any other STD is much more likely to go HIV+ than the general population).

The AIM Med foundation has been doing STD testing of adult film actors many of whom are sexually actived outside the industry-and many of whom aren't consistent users of condoms. There have been some cases of HIV in adult film actors(one case an actor went to brazil, got infected by an HIV transexual prostitute and came back to the US and exposed some other actors). However, the AIM experience does show that they
have dramatically reduced the incidence of HIV and other STD's among adult film actors.

If you want the ultimate in safety, you probably want to abstain. Condoms and playing in a tested group are complementary forms of precaution-using them together is safer than either done apart.

I haven't seen any convincing results that show that promoting condom use in populations can eradicate HIV--and some of the more interesting results of reducing incidence of HIV in populations focused largely on promoting/requiring testing(Cuba is one example where the HIV rate is signicantly lower than nearby Puerto Rico despite lower levels of resources in Cuba).

[sweet_tna]

What this all boils down to is that the tests are not foolproof. Condoms are not foolproof. The more people you have sex with, the greater your odds of contracting an STD. The only guaranteed way to avoid STD's is to abstain from sex altogether. Slightly more risky is to remain monogamous.

Only you and your partner(s) can decide what risks you are willing to take.

=)

[highlander]

Staying "monogamous" with a partner that can demonstrate clean STD test results is different than being "monogamous" with someone that simply claims monogamy. Many folks that claim to be monogamous simply aren't.

There are a few decisions here:
whether to get tested and to get test results from partners
whether to use condoms or not
whether to swing or not(and to what degree and what what profile of partners)

Now, nobody has really done in depth studies on all the different combinations here. More precautions theoretically ought to be better. there is no silver bullet, Tests aren't perfect. Condoms aren't perfect either-and many potential partners don't use them consistently.