That movie was made in 1983, right?
And he died in March 1988.
So that gives only five years from infection to development of full-blown AIDS to death.
Timeline sounds a bit short to me.
Wonder what Bbucko would say.
OK.
First regarding some myths and half-truths about HIV that I've seen here:
Tops get infected, though not at the same rates as bottoms.
The average incubation period for HIV is six weeks, though some people will seroconvert in fewer than four and others will take as long as eight. Unless one's immune system has been destroyed by chemotherapy or long-term IV drug use, everyone will test positive following infection within thirteen weeks.
Everyone's immune system reacts differently to infection with HIV. Some people suffer terribly while seroconverting, others feel no effects whatsoever. I cannot remember any bout of illness that I can reliably state marked my seroconversion, but it happened so long ago that I would probably have forgotten it anyway.
Once infected, everyone responds differently. Some people get very sick very quickly, and , depending on the quality of their care and their own body's ability to fight off the virus, might never recover. They are called Rapid Progressors.
Others will remain healthy for years and, never having shown signs of seroconversion, would have no way of knowing that they carry the virus without getting tested. Depending on when I was infected, I could have been carrying the virus for as long as fifteen or twenty years before my first bout of opportunistic infections, getting tested and beginning treatment. I am a Long-Term Slow Progressor.
There is a tiny minority who have lived with the virus without ever getting sick at all. No one knows why. They are called Long-Term Non-Progressors.
Infection Scenarios:
1) World-wide, the most common mode of transmission for HIV is unprotected vaginal sex.
2) In Western Europe, The US, Canada, and Australia, the most common mode of transmission is unprotected anal sex between men.
3) The sharing of hypodermic syringes and needles has been, historically, how HIV has been passed into the heterosexual community in Western Europe, The US, Canada and Australia; However, once infected, women and men can and do pass HIV through unprotected vaginal sex.
4) Cuts, abrasions, etc are poor transmission nodes. The areas of the body that facilitate transmission are special cells in the mucous membranes lining the rectum, the vagina, the urethra and the inside of the foreskin.
5) The presence of saliva, which is highly acidic and toxic to HIV, precludes almost any oral sex scenario from consideration. This is highly controversial right now, as anecdotally some men insist that they were infected by giving blowjobs. But this is contradicted by science.
6) The risks of transmission from mother to child during childbirth, while they are troubling to an HIV+ mother, are outside this area of discussion.
Relevant to this topic:
John Holmes might have been infected through the unprotected anal sex he had with men during the filming of
The Private Pleasures, though it's no less likely that he was infected engaging in unprotected anal and/or vaginal sex with his countless female partners at the same time.
We will simply never know.
What we do know now (and have known for over twenty years) is that using a condom during vaginal and/or anal sex is the surest way to prevent HIV infection, barring celibacy or strict monogamy between two uninfected individuals.
. If you have any other good Holmes stuff, please share! I've been organizing my folder collection so we can start a thread soon.
