hispanicpanic79's blog
It's virtually impossible to catch HIV through wrestling, and here's why...
"I'd never wrestle a guy with HIV," one of my former opponents said.
"Why's that?" I asked.
"I don't wanna catch it," he responded. "I wouldn't even smoke a joint that an HIV-positive guy smoked — I just don't wanna risk getting it."
I was surprised at his admission, but not shocked, considering the poor state of sex education in public schools. I informed him that it was highly likely that he HAD already wrestled an HIV-positive person and just not known it.
Then it struck me: If he thinks you can catch HIV through wrestling, lots of other guys on MeetFighters.com probably do too.
So I'm writing this post to help give factual info about why it's nearly impossible to catch HIV through wrestling. And just so you know: I'm an HIV-negative journalist who has interviewed an HIV educator about this very topic — you can hear my podcast about it here: https://megaphone.link/VMP9022661285 — and I would happily wrestle an HIV-positive competitor without hesitation.
After interviewing Erin Butler, Deputy Director of Prevention at the Cascade AIDS Project of Oregon, here's the basics on why you can't catch HIV through wrestling:
1) IF YOU OPPONENT BLEEDS ON YOU DURING A MATCH: HIV is most easily passed through blood and semen that comes into contact with mucous membranes within the body. Whenever HIV-positive blood is exposed to the air, it begins to die almost immediately. Thus it would take signifcant amounts of the virus in the blood, a large amount of blood AND the blood to have direct contact with a large open wound in the HIV-negative person's skin in order to even risk infection. (A skin condition like a rash or eczema isn't the same as an open wound).
If your opponent starts bleeding, you should probably stop the match and clean up the blood using "universal precautions": gloves to avoid direct contact with blood, clean and disinfect all contaminated surfaces (using soap, alcohol, and bandages/towels to stop the bleeding), and safely handle/dispose of contaminated material (putting blood-soaked fabrics into a garbage bag for later laundering, for example). This way, you can minimize the possibility of exposure.
And if you have any sores or rashes on your body, you can take the extra precaution of covering them up with wraps or bandages, even though the likelihood of catching HIV through them is super-duper low.
2) SWEAT AND SALIVA DON'T TRANSMIT HIV: HIV is not passed through sweat or saliva. We know this because HIV-positive athletes have been playing alongside HIV-negative athletes for decades, and because HIV-positive family members have been living alongside HIV-negative family members for just as long. Since the start of the HIV epidemic in 1981, no confirmed cases of transmission via saliva or sweat have ever occurred.
3) MOST HIV+ PEOPLE ARE ON TREATMENT AND "UNDETECTABLE": Many people living with HIV take medications that make thier viral load (the amount of virus in the blood) undetectable. That is, the level of virus in their body gets to such low levels that blood tests cannot detect it. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control say that an HIV-positive person with an undetectable viral load is virtually incapable of transmitting HIV to another person.
While it's possible that an HIV-positive person on medication might be detectable — perhaps because their medications have stopped working and they don't yet know it — people on HIV medications often have regular medical checkups and bloodwork to ensure that doesn't happen, so the likelihood of them having a high enough viral load to pass it on through bleeding, even if their meds stopped working, is still pretty small.
4) IF YOU'RE HAVING SEX WITH YOUR OPPONENTS... then use condoms or PrEP (pre-exposure prophylactics), a medication that when taken daily can greatly reduce the chance of contracting HIV by nearly 99%. And if you're just having oral sex, while HIV can be present in pre-cum and semen, there are virtually no documented cases in which a person contracted HIV through oral sex. If you're that worried about it, just stick to jerking off or don't have your opponent ejaculate in your mouth.
5) IF YOU'RE STILL WORRIED - If you think you may have been exposed to HIV, you can take PEP — post-exposure prophylactics, a month-long regimen of pills which prevent HIV from infecting the body — up to 72-hours after a possible exposure. Most urgent care clinics, primary care physicians and doctors can prescribe such meds. They're cheaper with insurance, naturally. If you can't afford them, contact your local HIV organization and ask for their help.
People with HIV face a lot of stigma due to ignorance and outdated fears we have about the virus. Please don't add to anti-HIV discrimination by passing on unfounded fears about "how easy it is to transmit." When it comes to wrestling, it's actually very hard to transmit and there's no reason to turn away an HIV-positive competitor, just as long as y'all know the facts and stop wrestling if either one of you starts bleeding.
lakelandjobber (23)
1/04/2020 12:10 PMthanks, Nice write up backs up a lot of what I have read about HIV
hispanicpanic79 (50)
1/04/2020 12:18 PM(In reply to this)
Thanks for the comment :-)
lakelandjobber (23)
1/04/2020 12:33 PM(In reply to this)
you are welcome really nice article
cub93100 (122 )
1/04/2020 2:31 PMThank you to step up publishing this!
It backs up what the majority of us already know HIV ways of transmission and precautions and it will help those who still have doubts.
hispanicpanic79 (50)
1/04/2020 8:32 PM(In reply to this)
Thanks for the compliment. I have many HIV-positive friends and hope this might help educate others so that we eradicate anti-HIV fear and ignorance.
NJmatman (11 )
1/04/2020 2:37 PMI really wish more people in this world were smart enough to do research to understand hiv/aids. Most people think it’s the same thing. Ignor@nce is not an excuse. People need to educate themselves.
cub93100 (122 )
1/04/2020 4:27 PM(In reply to this)
Very well said!
hispanicpanic79 (50)
1/05/2020 6:45 AM(In reply to this)
Yes, and I also think we also need to help educate each other and reduce the shame around both HIV and knowing little about it.
I applaud my competitor mentioned in the blog post above for even starting a conversation about sexual health at all, even if he got the facts wrong. We as queer men should normalize conversations around sexual health. It's a fact of life and nothing anyone should feel ashamed of.
Sadly, society makes people feel shame around HIV, STDs and queerness, which is why we must continue to educate ourselves and the larger community the best we can.
SeattleFight (489)
1/04/2020 7:46 PMWell done stud. You are a true professional and public asset. Proud to know you.
hispanicpanic79 (50)
1/04/2020 8:30 PM(In reply to this)
Thanks for the compliment, tiger ;-)
Basildon Bloke (15)
1/04/2020 11:36 PMTo be honest, until recently, I'll put my hands up and admit that I had an outdated view of HIV and how dangerous it is/was. Unfortunately, a lot of this stems from the media. Back in the 80's it was universally advertised that if you had HIV that you had death sentence.
Since then, I now know that there are a lot more advances in medicine that mean you can live a normal life (including sexually), but sadly, the media have not reported this as readily as they reported it being a death sentence. This is why people are quite ignorant to the changes, as they're not being educated.
Last year, a British rugby player (Gareth Thomas) came out publicly that he had HIV and did a documentary on it. For me personally, this was the first time I learned how things have changed.
I don't necessarily blame people for having the old views on HIV as I feel that it hasn't been well publicised. But things like the documentary and your well written blog here will hopefully start to educate people to understand that times have changed and that people with HIV don't feel that they have to hide it from everyone.
Thank you for your blog.
Here is a link if anyone wants to watch the documentary:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0008yrh/gareth-thomas-hiv-and-me
hispanicpanic79 (50)
1/05/2020 6:40 AM(In reply to this)
Thanks for your thoughtful comment and the link to the Gareth Thomas documentary. He is a trailblazer for gay inclusion in athletics and one of the few out HIV-positive sports figures we have!
It's kinda sad because you just KNOW there are more HIV-positive athletes who are frightened into staying closeted about their status when a manageable illness really shouldn't be a big deal — we wouldn't shame an athlete with kidney disease, would we? HIV is only a "different" disease because of contiuing ignorance and stigma AND its association with gay anal sex and IV drug users.
I'd actually like our community of wrestlers to support and help lift one another up as good competitors and educational peers, especially since so many of us are heteroflexible, gay, bi, trans men and women who face our own discrimination and stigma worldwide. Let's be good, loving influences on one another.
Nightmareera (0 )
1/05/2020 1:07 PMThere alot of ways you can get hiv beside sex.
hispanicpanic79 (50)
1/05/2020 4:02 PM(In reply to this)
Care to elaborate?
Smoothposer (0 )
1/05/2020 4:49 PMThe virus can be shed in any body fluid including tears and can be contracted by contact with any mucous membrane or open wound. That being said the viral load in a tear is small enough that you have like a .1% chance of transmission after drinking like ten liters of tears. Spit, urine, snot also have a small viral load. After working in a molecular diagnostic lab for 7 years, it was no joke to wear ppe. A coworker contracted hiv after serum was splashed in their eye. I would agree with everything you said and the fear may have been exaggerated, its still dangerous as is every other infectious disease.....you can't blame some precaution.
Sparrhawk (8)
1/07/2020 3:45 AMIt's great that you're writing this, but it would be better to provide sources or places to read more about it. I can write an articulate, thoughtful post about a medical issue, but without sources, it's like taking health advice from Dear Annie.
I don't say this to be disrespectful, only that medical advice is serious and can't be based on info written by someone who isn't a medical professional. I'll advise you that you can't get skin cancer from wrestling someone, but saying it with authority doesn't make it true.
hispanicpanic79 (50)
1/07/2020 3:50 AM(In reply to this)
While you’re right that the professional source I got this information from isn’t a medical doctor, merely a non-profit professional whose work focuses solely on preventing HIV transmission, I will say that the things my source said echoes things I’ve seen repeated by other medical professionals. If I ever get time, I may cite/link to said medical sources. But this will have to suffice as a starting point for now.
Nightmareera (0 )
1/11/2020 6:30 AMYou can not get no fucking HIV, aids, and std over the internet.
PhoenixBigBear (19 )
1/12/2020 3:57 PMThank you, thank you, thank you!
You've done all of us a great service by educating the members here in clear terms about the realities of HIV disease transmission in this year. Fear of what one doesn't know anything about can be a disease too, one that can prevent guys from getting together for some good wrestling and possible friendships. I hope this blog entry gets a lot of attention.
HIV positive guys are just guys like the rest of us. The precautions you listed are really helpful and wise.
Thanks again!
Fun time wrestling (4)
1/09/2021 1:36 PMAmazing article. Thanks for sharing.
Wrestling rookie (0)
7/11/2022 9:31 AMCan you please clarify, what if precum is all over the guys underwear and he face sits you? It gets in your face, eyes mouth? Then wouldn’t you be exposed? Thanks
cub93100 (122 )
7/11/2022 10:23 AMThanks for this important comment 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
It baffles me that at this day and age there are people who still think they can get exposed to HIV like this.
Wrestling rookie (0)
7/11/2022 5:43 PM(In reply to this)
I blame the internet, every website says something different. Some mentioned a popped zit or minor cut and a bit of precum in it and bam infection. That’s why there was a bit of confusion on my part. Our sex Ed didn’t cover non penetration encounters, such as wrestling, frotting, dry humping. Thanks for your reply.
hispanicpanic79 (50)
7/13/2022 1:00 AM(In reply to this)
Once HIV is exposed to air it dies very quickly. The mouth is generally inhospitable to HIV (in fact there have been no known transmissions, as far as I know, that have occurred just through oral sex and most medical professionals consider oral sex, even with semen, to be an extremely low-risk activity. As for catching HIV by semen going into your eyes, the SF AIDS Foundation says it's virtually impossible - https://www.sfaf.org/collections/beta/help-i-got-semen-in-my-eye-what-do-i-do/
And you're absolutely right, Ilovespandex69, sex education in most parts of the world is pitiful to nonexistent, which is why it's important for us to share information like this with each other without judgment. Hope it helps!
Wrestling rookie (0)
7/15/2022 3:07 AM(In reply to this)
Hispanicpanic79 thank you for the information, sadly i was kinda still am one of those people who got it in our heads that hiv is easily passed on. Sadly this has been the main reason why I still haven’t been able to go through with a match. The fear overcomes what would be my ultimate fetish which is wrestling. Thanks again for your reply
PhoenixBigBear (19 )
7/11/2022 5:09 PMWe all owe you a debt of gratitude for this educational blog. You're doing a lot of guys a huge service clearing up the misinformation about HIV.
I lost two wonderful partners and several great friends to HIV disease in the 80s and 90s. There was so much stigma then, and so many myths in those early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
I'm glad a new generation will have the information they need to carry on with their lives, thanks to men like you!
Wanna wrestle?!?!?